Pulled into the Blue
by totaldefeat
Summary: Ace is taking a break from pirating and visits Luffy at Mt. Corvo. On a rainy day, they bring back a blonde home with them and the three grow closer. Ace and Sabo are 20, Luffy is 7. AceSabo
1. Chapter 1

Luffy let go of Ace's hand and ran forward, his rubber boots splashing in the puddles. It was another rainy March day at Windmill Village.

"Wait, Luffy! Don't run like that, you'll slip and hurt yourself." A freckled young man dressed in only navy three quarter cargos and a red beaded necklace called out.

The boy didn't listen, turning around and sticking his tongue at Ace. "Behh, I won't fall!" He laughed, continuing to step into puddles and getting the muddy water over his long red raincoat.

Rubbing fingers between his neck and shoulder, Ace let out a sigh. He started taking larger strides, catching up to the seven year old boy, "Luffy, at least put on your hood, you'll get sick."

Luffy licked his lips as he attempted to hop into another deep looking puddle when he felt a tug backwards and fell onto his butt. He blinked and peered over his shoulder. A brown gloved hand tangled in the material of his hood.

_Splash, splash. _

Ace glanced down to see a man faced down clutching Luffy's hood. "…Your friend?" If it wasn't Luffy, he wouldn't have bothered asking an obvious question. The little guy was pretty skilled in attracting all kinds of strange people. Luffy shook his head.

"This old man won't let go of my hood!" His brows furrowed as he whined, tugging his hood from the stranger's grip. Really, how would he know whether or not the stranger is an old man? The fact that it was one of Luffy's usual ridiculous assumptions made him smile. Ace chuckled and ruffled the boy's hair.

The older knelt down and shook the stranger by the shoulder only to have them roll onto their back lifelessly.

"Ahhh! Ace just killed someone! Are you going to kill me next? Noo!" Luffy yelled at the top of his lungs. Spouts of gibberish came out of his mouth one after another non-stop. A large hand covered his mouth and he heard a loud shush from Ace.

"Luffy, he's not dead so I didn't kill anyone." He moved his free hand to the stranger's neck, now noticing the short blonde locks of hair that peeked from under the man's black top hat. The brim covered his eyes so there was no telling what the man looked like at the moment. "He's still got a pulse, calm down okay?" He brought his hand back and wrapped it around Luffy's waist to hold him still.

The boy was too absorbed in his own thoughts he didn't hear a word of what the other was saying and squirmed in Ace's hold. He flailed his legs around, twisting his body to get away from the supposed murderer. The older man had a hard time keeping him still until one of Luffy's foot landed a blow onto the blonde man's head.

A groan belonging to the neither of them sounded. Confused, Luffy stopped squirming and blinked at the stranger. He and Ace stared at the man in anticipation. "He came back to life?" The boy questioned.

A tic formed on Ace's forehead. Though he had tried to keep his irritation inside,—he was an adult, not an ass of a teenager—it seeped into his voice. "Luffy, I said he wasn't dead in the first place." His mouth twitched as it curved upwards. "I said that didn't I, _Luffy_?"

Luffy's eyes began to fill with golden sparkles of admiration. His jaw dropped. "That's so cooool!"

A harsh grip on his head and a warning went unnoticed. "You should respect what your elders say to you…" Ace mumbled. "Seriously, this guy has quite a grip on your hood. If he doesn't let go, we're leaving your coat here."

At this, Luffy spun his head to face Ace. "Why? I like this coat! We could wake the old man up." He didn't like this one bit. Just because some stubborn old man had an iron grip on his coat didn't mean he had to give the coat up did it? It wasn't fair. He huffed, crossing his arms at his chest and puffed out his cheeks. And if Ace didn't think the boy was being an adorable piece of shi—shrimp right now, he just wouldn't be Ace.

A wailing siren alerted Ace and he sprung up in habitual behaviour grabbing Luffy by the back of his coat, clicking his tongue when a gloved hand pulled slightly. The siren wailed again louder, nearing by.

"Fuck," he cursed and heaved the blonde man's body so it was hanging over his right shoulder. He adjusted Luffy's position to be sitting on his left shoulder and dashed like a mad man.

Luffy giggled. "Faster, Ace!"

Ace smirked and ran faster.


	2. Chapter 2

The morning was greeted with bird chirping and scuffing of shoes inside the house. A curly orange haired woman ambled her way towards the wooden ladder that led to the brat's room. The ladder rungs creaked under her weight as she climbed each one carefully. She poked her head up, surprised to see that no one occupied the room. Where could they have gone?

The woman grumbled. The two brats were always troublesome to deal with. They ate way too much they were sure to out eat the animals in the forest someday, their incapability to do or really they were seriously unwilling to do any kind of house chores and that left a very tired Dandan. If someone left them alone they would be wearing the same clothes for a week straight. At least a certain dark green haired lady came by and scolded Luffy to change his clothes from time to time. The problem was Ace: he came by out of the blue saying he was visiting and let himself in without asking. The brat didn't look like he changed out of his trousers during his trip back to Mt. Corvo. She noticed he'd been wearing the same old pair of black cargos. He didn't even bother to get new clothes.

The woman blinked at the sight of Dogra and Magra standing next to…something that was on the ground.

"What are you two doing?"

"B-boss.." A short man and another man whose hair was styled like a rooster turned around. They stepped away from each other to reveal tangled bodies.

Dadan squinted her eyes, knitting brows in concentration and confusion. Surely, her vision was deceiving her.

There were three people sprawled on the floor right in front of the entrance and Dadan immediately knew it was Ace's narcolepsy at work. He probably collapsed after arriving at the doorstep only to fall through it and face-planting himself. She shivered, it was no wonder last night felt like it was in the middle of winter.

The strange sight wasn't that Ace was on his stomach or that Luffy was loudly snoozing off on his older brother's back. It was the man Ace held in his arm by the waist. An unfamiliar man dressed in plain black.

Dadan counted to make sure. She pointed a finger, Ace, and shifted it over the boy on his back, Luffy, she sucked in a breath. Ace…Luffy…her expression twisted into complete confusion as her index finger landed to point at the third man. What was going on?

"Morning, Dadan," Luffy said as he sat up. After greeting her, he let himself flop back down, curling onto his side and rubbing his face against Ace's back for warmth.

"Oh hey, Dadan, morning to you too." Ace mumbled, a bit muffled by the floor. He didn't move an inch to make eye contact with the orange haired woman—that took much effort. The third man sighed in content and shifted.

Ace sprung up, lids heavy with grogginess. He yawned before realizing a person he didn't know lying beside him face down. As he slowly processed this information, the man suddenly pushed himself up with both hands only for a sharp inhale of breath to be heard. He glanced around, taking in the unfamiliar scenery.

"Who are you?" The blonde man's eyes met a pair of dark ones. Ace opened his mouth to speak but a gruff woman's voice interrupted.

"That's what I want to ask! Who is this brat?!" Dadan yelled, directed a finger at the stranger, then redirected it to Ace.

He quickly glanced at the orange haired woman but didn't answer and craned his neck to look at the blonde. "Who are you?"

The man almost let out an automatic response of _I asked you first though_. "I'm Sabo, nice to meet you." After all, the situation would get nowhere if everyone refused to introduce themselves first.

Ace inspected the man from head to toe, his attire, his hair, and his face. The man had medium wavy blonde hair parted at the middle, large round eyes with a burn scar on his left and a black top hat where blue goggles rested at the base. His pants were tucked into his black boots and the impression Ace had was—for lack of a better and elaborate description—the man was well-dressed. However, something about the white layered cloth tied around his blue button collared shirt was bothering him.

_Is that supposed to be a fancy napkin or something?_

Ace realized he thought aloud when he felt a gaze on him and a closed hand moving to a mouth.

Sabo chuckled into his hand, amusement clear in his eyes. "No," he gently picked the cloth in-between his fingers, "this is a cravat. Most definitely not a napkin."

As if finally noticing Dadan's existence, he turned to her and stared. "Who's this old hag?" He gestured a thumb to the woman's direction.

Ace bursted into unrestrained laughter and Dadan roared, "Who are you calling old hag?! I'm Dadan, you damn brat!" She stomped forwards, stretching her neck left and right. Her bones cracked as she rolled a shoulder.

"I like this guy already!"

Sabo saw from the corner of his eyes that the freckled man was still laughing and didn't know whether he should take his words as a compliment or as sarcasm. He stepped back, the wooden planks creaking, dread coiling in his guts. He put his hands up if anything were to happen, he'd be ready.

"Oh yeah? Well I think I hate 'em already."

"Wait, Dadan! Is that my…"

Dadan looked at left shoulder and took the hat into her hands. "You left it lying around on the floor. Here, take it back." She tossed the orange hat his way and disappeared into the house, all traces of irritation flown out the window.

* * *

Ace placed a bread roll and a bottle of water in front of Sabo. He chewed on his own bread and apologized—that was all he would get for breakfast.

Sabo smiled politely. "No, it's fine. I'm lucky to even be given food." He nibbled on his bread and was surprised to see there was nothing left of the freckled man's breakfast already. Ace hummed in acknowledgement.

"I'm going to go hunt for food, want to tag along?" The freckled man's stomach growled loudly. He rubbed his stomach in circles to soothe it. Sabo blinked.

_Oh._

"Aren't you cold without a shirt on?"

Ace shrugged. "No." He flicked his index finger up to tip the brim of his hat upwards, a flame lighting at the tip. "I'm not cold at all."

Sabo's eyes widened. "Is that.."

Ace smirked. "A devil fruit? Yeah it is."

Sabo beamed. So this was a devil fruit ability. He had read about them in books, seen them often causing public disturbances in newspapers headlines, but never had he seen one before his very eyes. He couldn't hide his growing grin and hoped he didn't scare off his newly acquainted friend with his fascination. It wasn't everyday he could see one so close up.

Ace's smirk fell when the blonde's leather glove touched his arm. Fingers skirted up his arm and stopped at his knuckles. His blue eyes strained in bottling his excitement inside.

"Can I…" Sabo started and Ace leaned back, thinking the man was getting a bit too touchy with someone who he met yesterday. "Can I touch the flames?"

Ace cocked an eyebrow and at last understood with a glimpse of sparkling sapphire what was going on. The blonde had never seen a devil fruit user in person much less seen one showcasing their abilities. Most devil fruit users were pirates that sailed on the Grand Line or the New World and there were still some on the Blue seas so it made sense for regular people to be awed. Now that Ace thought about it, Sabo's excessive admiration towards his flame was odd—Windmill Village was more than occasionally visited by pirates. He was brought back to reality when he felt the blonde move.

The man leaned forward, tugging Ace's arm with both hands. The freckled one shuffled away from the blonde's closing in face.

Sabo chewed his bottom lip and fidgeted before repeating, "So…can I?"

With a firm but light push to the man's forehead, Ace stopped him in place.

"I know you're excited but calm down for a second—"

A pair of gloved hands suddenly clasped around his still alight finger, startling him for a couple seconds. Once he pulled himself together, the first thing he did was open his mouth ready to scold Sabo for being reckless. This guy was one Kinder Surprise after another. Fire was not something to be played with and trying to directly touch it was out of the question.

"Whoa!" Sabo yelped and retracted his hands. Aware that he had just set his finger into a larger flame, Ace instantly put it out.

"Sorry about that," he apologized and in a little forceful tone reprimanded the blonde. "Are you crazy? Why do you think it's a such good idea to touch fire?"

Sabo let out a nervous laugh and scratched his cheek. He raised his left hand with his right pointing at it, "Ah, don't worry my gloves are fireproof."

Ace resisted the urge to roll his eyes in response and decided to drop the subject. The guy was ridiculous or maybe he was actually being reasonable—he didn't know what to make out of this guy.

* * *

**A/N:** This took me way longer than I thought it would. The thing that kind of annoyed be while writing was every word I typed out kept going a different direction than what I planned out in my head. The characters have a mind of their own...Also, sorry for all the dialogue. I'm not really good with words and being poetic all that cool stuff.


	3. Chapter 3

Ace leaned against the wall of Luffy's—also his for the time being—room with his arms crossed across his chest as he watched Sabo pull the thin blanket over the boy. He could hear Luffy whine about the heat and see him squirm under the covers. He exhaled.

_I thought idiots didn't catch colds…_

After Ace had asked the blonde a second time if he wanted to tag along for hunting and gotten a yes, he went over to Luffy who was still sleeping on the front entrance floor to ask the boy if he wanted to go as well. He nudged the straw-hat boy a couple of times before Sabo stopped him. It turned out he had a fever judging by his scrunched up face, his shallow breaths and high temperature.

"Let's carry him to bed," Sabo had said.

The top-hat man left the room to get cloth used to wipe Luffy down, a bucket and some water. He told Ace he would take care of the boy as a way to apologize; it was partly his fault Luffy had a fever and he would take responsibility. There was no arguing back with Sabo. To the freckled man's surprise, he was as stubborn as a rock despite his appearance.

Ace ducked his head down the ladder to check if Sabo was nearby. When he was sure the blonde wasn't there, he quietly sat next to Luffy.

He brushed away a few strands of hair from the boy's face, making Luffy roll onto his side. Ace's lips tugged upwards subtly into a smile, though his eyes indicated exactly how he felt then when the boy nuzzled his palm. Moments of sitting in comfortable silence passed. He listened to Luffy's breathing and the way his chest rose and fell in time with each breath while caressing his damp hair.

Slowly, Ace's mind trailed off and he seemed too absorbed in his thoughts he didn't hear the ladder rung squeak. He gazed out the window then at the boy he was touching, feeling the heat beneath his fingers.

An audible clearing of someone's throat cut through the stillness. Ace jerked his head towards the man he didn't even notice was there and for how long. He didn't blink and gazed at the blonde as Sabo stared back. Having said that, the blonde could tell he wasn't being stared at, not with those empty eyes.

With no clear reaction from the freckled man, Sabo hesitated. He almost stuttered. "I'll take care of Luffy so you can go hunt without—"

The abrupt movement startled the blonde—the man had been absolutely still before.

Ace turned away and began climbing down the ladder mumbling, "Thanks."

_Well that was strange…_It puzzled Sabo. He thought the freckled man was more of the hot-blooded, short-tempered type, but seeing him gently stroking the boy's hair made him rethink that. His expression as he did so was unreadable.

"Ace…" Luffy whimpered.

Sabo crawled over to the boy and whispered, "Ace just left to get food. Come on, let's get you changed."

At that, Luffy whined. He hardly ever got sick and when he did he hated it because he felt sluggish and overheated. Now that Ace was gone, nobody would keep him company. He snapped his eyes open and looked to the side to see a blonde man with a top-hat. Their eyes meet and the man gave him smile.

"Do you want my help?" he asked in a soft voice.

Luffy sat up, his lips stretching to a grin. "Who are you? Are you Ace's friend? Wait you look familiar…Are you that old man from yesterday?" He snickered. "You don't look like an old man anymore! That's why you should sleep more so you don't become an idiot. A…Achoo!" Luffy sneezed hard, snot hanging out of his nose and spats of saliva spraying onto Sabo's face.

The blonde patiently listened to the boy's continuous talk and immediately knew he was an energetic person who befriended people easily. However, when Luffy's spit landed on his face, he forgot his manners and pushed the boy's face in the opposite direction. Sabo grabbed a tissue he brought upstairs with him earlier and used it to pinch Luffy's nose.

Luffy blew his nose into the tissue saying a smothered thanks. "Are you going with Ace?"

"No, I'm staying here. Also, I'm Sabo, nice to meet you."

Luffy grinned again. Being stuck with a slight fever might not be so bad this time after all. When Ace wasn't around, which was most of the time, he'd coop up in his room sleeping it off or play outside until he dropped. This time, there was this mysterious blonde person to keep him company. He wouldn't risk following Ace on his hunt. First hand experience taught him if he followed while sick, it'd get him a harsh bonk on the head; hard enough to swell into a tomato-sized bump.

"Sabo, do you have any interesting stories?" Luffy stared at Sabo with expectant, childish eyes.

He hummed as he thought. "I might have a few…"

The boy gasped and was about to demand he tell him those interesting stories when he was interrupted by a tsk.

Sabo wagged his index finger. "_After_ we get you wiped down and changed." He hung his head, "Sorry for getting you sick." He could see Luffy tilt his head.

"Why are you apologizing?"

Sabo raised his head, "I got you sick, yesterday it was raining and you had to help me and—"

"Shi, shi, shi. What're you talking about? Why would it be Sabo's fault? If Ace was here he'd blame me for getting sick. You're a really weird guy."

"But I," he interjected.

Luffy grumbled, "Auugh, Sabooo tell me your stories already!"

"Pfft," a quick airy almost-laugh which turned into a hearty laugh, "Haha!" Sabo wiped a tear from his eye and said, "Yeah, like I said, you'll get to hear them after we clean you and get you changed."

The boy radiated in delight and nodded too sharply he could have broken his neck.

* * *

Ace spot a river stream ahead and ran to the cliff edge. He had snacked on a huge-ass boar earlier, roasted perfectly with his fire and it was time to bring lunch back for Luffy and Sabo. He wondered what he should hunt for, leaning over the edge. He squinted, seeing a speck of colour in the waters. Ace smirked, knowing exactly what lunch was going to be.

Leaping off the cliff and landing onto the ground below with knees bent to counter the shock, he strode over beside the flowing water. He caught sight of the crocodile's head again and cracked his knuckles. He didn't even need his fire to beat the animal up.

Ace took off on one foot, flying high above the prey and landed right on its back thus bewildering the crocodile. Smoothly in one swift and heavy punch, Ace knocked the animal out of consciousness. The crocodile hadn't any time to thrash or retaliate. The forest was a dangerous place full of slithering snakes, poisonous mushrooms and unnaturally humongous carnivores; he would never let his guard down around here, never dawdle in taking down a beast made for lunch.

Ace tossed the crocodile over a shoulder and made his way back home—namely, Dadan's hideout. He had better get going before he got the urge to gobble the whole thing up and picked up his pace.

* * *

Sabo had his back against the wall, a newspaper spread by his hands. He flipped mid-way to the next page pausing only to notice Ace at the doorstep. He refrained from speaking and waited for the man to come in.

Ace froze, his jaw dropping lower and lower until the corner of his mouth curved into a broad smile. He strode to where Sabo sat and didn't know where to begin.

He snickered. "What're you-"

"What the hell is that behind-"

"Reminds me of yesterday when we-"

"That's a huge..crocodile."

"It's kind of funny, you guys look like-"

"Man, that is huge-"

Both had their mouths open ready to continue their blabble but realized they were talking over the other and nothing made sense. They laughed it off and Ace plopped himself next to Sabo.

"You first." Sabo offered and the other man nodded.

"I see Luffy's already quite attached to you."

The boy was on Sabo's lap his legs wrapped around the blonde's waist and arms around his neck—sleeping.

He chuckled. "If he's clinging onto me this much is a sign, then yes I guess he is."

"You know that's funny 'cause yesterday _you_ were the one who wouldn't let go of Luffy's hood." Ace put his hands behind his head and crossed a leg over the other.

"Sorry…"

Furrowing his eyebrows, Ace gave him a baffled look. It wasn't his intention to blame Sabo.

"You keep saying sorry, I'll be knocking you out every time you do so from now on."

"Sorr-" A stern glare stopped him in time and he scratched his cheek in nervousness.

"You're a pretty funny guy." Ace reached over and patted Luffy's hair. Sabo didn't expect the man to do that in front of him and there it was again, that unreadable expression Ace had earlier.

"Are you Luffy's father?" The question was verbalized right when it popped into his mind and he didn't have time to cover his big mouth. Ace's hand stopped petting, pulling back his hand and gaped at him.

"Do I look that old?" he asked incredulously.

"No, I didn't mean it that way! You don't seem the type to be loving and I thought maybe it's because Luffy's your son that you're…gentle with him?" The last part he said in a doubting tone. There was something else deeper, a better word to describe how Ace acted around Luffy; he merely couldn't think of one on the spot. Sabo lifted his gaze, meeting Ace's mix of black and grey. He appeared to be surprised.

Ace smiled fondly. "No, he's my little brother."Strangely enough, as though hearing his older brother's words, Luffy sighed in content and rubbed his head against Sabo's neck.

Sabo couldn't help but want to shower the boy with his affections. He folded his newspaper, setting it aside and held Luffy tightly. Once he let go, the boy still clinging on him anyways, he saw Ace raising an eyebrow at him.

"Sorr-..I mean, is there something wrong with hugging your brother?" That was close. Sabo had almost apologized again. He did wonder though, if it was weird to hug someone's little brother in front of them. Dear lord, did he overstep his boundaries? Did he need permission? Was he being too touchy? Luffy was being too adorable, he couldn't help it!

"Hmph." Ace smirked. "No, nothing wrong with it. Just…I was wondering when you'd give in to his cuteness."

Sabo blinked rapidly and his eyes widened, trying to contain a smile which ended up making him look like an idiot. "A-are you…trying to brag about Luffy?"

Ace was stunned—like he's been all easy to figure out—before he snickered, pink tainting his cheeks. He rubbed his neck and with a goofy face asked, "Is that how it sounds?"

Sabo nodded several times and couldn't hold in his smile any longer. His lips broke into a grin and replied, "It does sound like it. But yes, yes I have given into his adorableness." It was unexpected for him to chat freely with a man he met recently or really, gotten to known today. Sabo was glad Ace and Luffy were the ones who brought him home.

"Hey, I don't like to assume anything so I'll ask. How'd you get the newspaper?"

Sabo picked the newspaper he set aside up. "Oh this…"

"I don't think someone collapsed out on the rainy streets would have any money on them."

"And here I thought you weren't all that bright looking." The blonde taunted.

Ace placed his hand on top of Sabo's head and pushed down lightly, his mouth twitching in fake irritation. "You're pretty rude aren't you. An apologizing and rude blonde."

"Thank you for your kind words, good sir."

"Okay, sassy too?" Ace uttered in disbelief.

"I'd prefer cheeky," he retorted smugly.

Ace rolled his eyes. They were the same thing weren't they? Apparently Sabo heard his mental question because he answered, "Cheeky sounds more innocent doesn't it?"

The man contemplated it for a couple seconds and shrugged. "Are you implying you're innocent, 'cause as far as I can tell, that newspaper," he motioned at the paper in Sabo's hands, "tells me you aren't."

"Huh? Yeah I kind of threatened the News Coo that dropped by earlier." Sabo closed his eyes, remembering the seagull that flew overhead out front of the house. Remembered the frightened face of the News Coo when he grasped it by the neck, shaking the seagull until it willingly gave a copy of today's newspaper.

_Wow that's one creepy smile…Must've beaten that News Coo up…You have my condolences._

A stomach growled and they both looked at the other, then looked down at Luffy who was whining in his sleep.

"Luffy, there's meat," Ace whispered. In an instant the boy's eyes snapped open and jumped onto his feet.

"Meat? Where?!" His tongue lolled out, saliva already dripping off it. The older brother stuck his thumb at the crocodile laying beside him. Luffy took a speedy step, meeting Ace's palm.

"Wait, you're not eating the whole thing. Share with Sabo too."

Luffy nodded quickly. "I will." He waited for Ace to take his hand off his face except he seemed too preoccupied with the door. He spun around, and recognizing the familiar dark green haired woman, he rushed to greet her.

"Makino!" Luffy shouted as he clutched onto her long skirt.

Makino giggled at the boy's enthusiasm and pat his head. "Hi there Luffy."

"Why're you here today?"

Makino walked further into the house, closer to where Ace and Sabo sat with Luffy following still clutching her skirt. "Well, today I was planning to come visit you since Ace said you have a fever."

Luffy grinned. "Really? But I'm better now!" He placed his hands on his hips, sticking out his stomach to prove that point.

"I thought so, that's why I brought the clothes I've been making you and Ace. Let me make sure they fit you."

"Hm, so that's what you meant when you said you had to go get something." Ace said.

"Yep. Come here Ace." Makino waved him to stand, her hands pulling out a pair of washed blue denim shorts. Ace got up and immediately she laid the denims over the three-quarters he's wearing. Luffy let go of Makino and scurried over to Sabo.

"Hey Luffy, how're you feeling?" Sabo glanced down at the boy sitting on his thigh.

"I'm feeling great! I swear I can even beat Big Tiger tomorrow!"

Sabo inclined his head to the side, "Big Tiger?"

"Yeah, it's a reeeeally big tiger that lives in the forest. I never beat it once. Ace said he wouldn't take me if I couldn't beat Big Tiger." He huffed and frowned, crossing his arms across his chest.

"What do you mea—"

"Ah!" Luffy pointed in the direction of Ace and Makino were.

"You should come back more often. For Luffy's sake." Makino said quietly.

"I know. Sorry I-"

"Being a pirate must be very busy."

"No, I came here this time to…Nevermind, I'm still not sure." Ace sighed. He understood the woman had experienced the loneliness of being left behind by pirates. She had become used to the company of a certain red-headed pirate and when it was time for him to leave, it tore her. His situation wasn't like hers.

Makino knit her brows, worry plastered on her face. "Whatever you're planning, as long as you and Luffy are both happy, I have no complaints." Her sweet smile always brightened Ace up. She always had that sort of magic to do that, guaranteed.

"Okay, I promise."

"Ah!" The pair turned their heads to Luffy. "Ace's blushing! Shi, shi, shi.." The boy then rolled on the floor giggling into his hands.

"He's right." Makino covers her mouth with a hand. "Oh no, did you catch Luffy's fever?" She reached up and pressed the back of her hand on Ace's forehead. "You seem fairly warm…"

"M-makino, I'm fire remember? My devil fruit naturally makes me really warm." Ace sputtered. He was getting embarrassed getting treated like a little kid. Not only that, it was also in front of Sabo. How lame did he look?

Luffy ran up to them and started teasing and laughing at Ace while Makino giggled. Sabo stared from where he sat and suddenly felt out of place. He didn't belong here nor did he know these people very well despite how nicely he got along with the brothers. His negative thoughts didn't get far as Luffy's face popped in front of his.

Luffy's suppressed chuckle was terrible and some spit flew out. With one of his reflexes he was gratefully born with, he quickly shielded his face with his hand. He'd have to wash that spit out of his glove later…

"Ace..Ace is pft…He's like a tomato! Dahaha!"

Sabo's eyes trailed to Ace to find him perfectly resembling a tomato. He erupted into laughter. Somehow it seemed cu…

"Shut up already Luffy!"

That made everyone laugh harder. Luffy poked Sabo's cheek, grabbing his attention.

"Sabo, your cheeks are pink like cherry blossoms. Are you blushing too or are you sick?"

Huh? Sabo touched his cheeks only to be reminded his gloves were fireproof. He slipped one off and he could feel his cheek was indeed warm.

"Silly Luffy, you're pink too. People get pink when they laugh too much." Makino said.

To Sabo, it was partially true but had a sense that somehow there was another reason.

* * *

"I can cook this." Sabo stated plainly. Three pairs of eyes were shocked and disbelieving.

"What?"

Luffy jumped up and down. "Wow, Sabo's amazing! You can cook good crocodile?"

"Even Makino isn't that skilled with crocodile, are you sure you can do this?"

"If you must know, Ace, some women taught me how." There was no way he'd say the women cooks in the kitchen at the mansion taught him because he was bored and they were making food to make their skin smoother.

"If you need help preparing it, I would be glad to." Makino offered.

Sabo raised his hands in refusal. "No, I can't make Ace and Luffy's guest do that. I'll do it, you can just sit back and wait."

"You're also their guest aren't you?"

Was he a guest? He guessed she had a point and took her offer.

* * *

Lunch was hectic. Once Sabo and Makino brought out the dishes, it was like the meat disappeared into thin air. Everyone started with the same portion of food yet the dishes were going poof one by one. He became aware of the brother's eating habits when Ace told him to shield his plate.

Ace's mouth was full of food that when he tried to talk to Sabo, crocodile meat kept falling back onto the table. Sabo got him to at least chew the food before trying again. "You better shield that plate with your body Sabo. Luffy's gonna steal your food."

A number of fork stabs close to his plate on the table convinced Sabo and he shielded his plate. Then he realized there was barely any food left and threw away his table manners. He used his hands to shove down the crocodile steak cuts, thwarted Ace's and Luffy—they had enough to eat—gulped water like crazy and he didn't mind this lively lunch.

Afterwards, Ace left to hunt a bear for dinner, Sabo struggled to get Luffy to rest more, and Makino went back to Windmill Village to tend her bar. Sabo didn't believe dinner could get any worse and he was wrong. It was a real war for food. Dinner included Dadan and the rest of the mountain bandits. Everyone was in a frenzied state shoving, yanking at each other and fighting over the meat like starved animals and still Sabo was laughing the whole time.

* * *

**A/N**: Here, I give you guys 3k words for your patience! Thank you to the guests for your support. Please be aware that once I upload a chapter, I have no words written for the next. I don't pre-write these chapters. I might be busy with classes so I might not be able to update quickly.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**: Hey guys, I think I updated a bit earlier compared to last time. It's getting slightly easier for me to write when I don't plan everything out. Instead of catching up for my classes during the long weekend, I decided to write this haha.

To those who commented about who's top and bottom, there won't be any of those kind of scenes as this is rated T. Though I might consider it for an epilogue or something. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter even though nothing much happens like every other chapter. I'm still thinking of how to get Ace and Sabo from friends to lovers. If you have any suggestions, please let me know :)

* * *

Ace awoke to the smell of bacon, his grogginess clearing up and heard sizzling come from below. He got up and yawned, stretching his arms above his head and twisting his stiff limbs. He glanced to Luffy who was sprawled out beside him lying on a thin cover and decided not to wake him up yet.

When he climbed down the ladder, the sight he saw had him blink twice. He watched the blonde turn as he noticed him in the room.

"Good morning, Ace." Sabo waved the spatula in his hand.

"Y-yeah, good morning." Ace scratched the back of his head, walking to the table that he knew Dadan didn't own.

Sabo had his back towards him, busying himself with cooking. "Makino left some groceries and that table you're sitting on before she left yesterday." He hummed a tune while he flipped the batter over to cook the other side of the pancake.

"Why're you cooking breakfast?"

"I'd feel bad if I imposed on you guys without doing any chores in return."

Ace absently stared at how the man's shoulders moved when he shifted the pan and listened to the frying sounds. He closed his eyes.

"You didn't have to. You're our guest."

Sabo stopped. "The fact that I am imposing you guys doesn't change." He returned to his tasks of stacking cooked pancakes and pouring more batter into the pan.

Ace sighed. Like he thought, Sabo was real stubborn. He turned his head away and opened his eyes, staring at a wall.

"You can stay here you know…" He said it in a tiny voice that if it wasn't just the two of them in the room, Sabo wouldn't have been able to hear it.

Ace glanced to the side, waiting for a reaction from Sabo and saw the blonde jerk. Though he was curious, he didn't want to pry and forced his eyes back to the wall.

"Is that…You don't mind me freeloading?"

Ace barked into laughter. "It's not like you're freeloading since you're helping with chores." He had a feeling Sabo was beginning to loosen up. "If you asked, Dadan wouldn't mind letting you stay here."

Sabo smiled, bringing the plates to set on the table. "Thanks…"

Ace looked up at Sabo. "…For not asking me anything."

He grabbed a fork from Sabo's hand and quickly started stuffing his face with pancakes and bacon. Ace tried to think carefully of which words he should use to respond as he munched on the food and gave up—he was never good at thinking.

"Sabo," he started with a piece of bacon coming close to falling out of his mouth, "don't worry too much about things. Everyone has their own circumstances and I won't ask if you don't want me to."

Sabo's eyes widened and twinkled. Not only was Ace letting him stay here, he was also being considerate. He couldn't help but shut his eyes in relief as a smile tugged his lips.

"Thank yo—" Sabo's cheeks were squished inwards, making his mouth like a fish.

Ace glared at him weakly and began squishing the blonde's soft cheeks with his hand. "You know, I think if I let you say thanks a second time, you're never going to stop."

"Sor…I apologize?" Sabo sweat-dropped.

_Thump._

The blonde looked down to see Ace's face planted into his stack of pancakes. His first thought was how silly it seemed and his second was the feeling of panic. He turned his head left and right and flailed his arms wondering if he should go get somebody to help.

"Calm down, brat." A gruff voice said.

Sabo watched Dadan sit on the table across from Ace, peacefully eating her portion of breakfast.

"It's his damn narcolepsy. He'll wake up soon." She forked the egg and ate. Her expression was contemplative as she chewed slowly. "You made this?" When he nodded, Dadan laughed and said he was worth keeping here than Luffy or Ace.

_So she heard us…_

Dadan took a bite of the pancake, "This is great," she realized it came out as too much of a praise with her awed tone and quickly added, "for a brat I mean."

"Isn't it?" Ace rose from his plate, oil and grease smeared over his face.

"Here's…something to wipe your face with." Sabo took out one of the handkerchiefs Makino gave him yesterday.

Ace turned to the side and mumbled his thanks. He was still a bit drowsy from his short blackout and pulled on the white cloth, wiping his face. The cloth was swiftly yanked away from him, leaving him confused because he wasn't done using it. He reached out to grab it when Sabo pushed his face.

"What're you doing, Ace?! Don't wipe your oily face in my cravat!" He pushed the persistent Ace's face back.

"Huh?" Ace stared up blankly at Sabo. He gradually became aware of what he was doing but it was too late. With a hard shove, he flew backwards the side of his face slamming against the wall behind him.

Dadan dropped her fork, her mouth unbelievably wide.

"Ow…Forgot to change into fire…" He collected himself and rubbed the side of his head.

"Oh bloody hell, are you okay Ace?" Sabo bent down, kneeling on the floor.

"…Sabo you…"

"Yes?" His arms twitched.

"You're pre—"

Sabo pulled his arms up to shield his face and squeezed his eyes shut. "Sorry!" he blurted out. When nothing came, he opened his eye bit by bit. He saw the surprised look on Ace's face and brought his arms down.

_I thought he was going to hit me back… _

Ace snapped out of his surprise and said hesitantly, "Uh, I was going to say you're pretty strong despite how you look."

"Oh," was all Sabo could say.

Ace scratched his head feeling the awkwardness and headed for the door. "I've got some business to take care of so I'll be back later." He waved and his figure disappeared.

Sabo slumped on the seat Ace just sat in and sighed, running his finger through his hair.

Dadan got up after she finished her breakfast and told Sabo not to worry before she left him alone in the room.

* * *

By the time Ace came back, Luffy had eaten his breakfast and played until he dropped—it was nightfall. Sabo didn't step a foot out of the house since morning and no matter how strange that was, none of the bandits nor Dadan commented. Though Luffy on the other hand had bugged Sabo all day to play with him and that he'd show him around the forest.

He felt bad, but he couldn't afford to wander around in plain sight. Sabo sat against the wall, his elbow perched on the open window sill as he gazed at the night sky, white stars shining bright contrasting the darkness.

The ladder rungs creaked under a weight and knowing who it was, Sabo tensed. He hadn't had the chance to apologize to the man yet and he was afraid if Ace was still angry. The creaking stopped and sure enough, Ace was in the room.

"Hey," he said quietly as to not wake his younger brother.

Sabo glanced at Ace before directing his gaze out the window again. "Hey…"

Silence fell between them—only the blowing winds to accompany the quietness—and the blonde spoke again, "So um, are you okay? I mean I sort of shoved you hard enough for you to almost break the wall." His shoulder drooped inwards, his hat shadowing his face, "Sorry," he whispered.

Ace looked dumbstruck, though the other couldn't see. "Sabo," he said firmly, urging the blonde to face him. Sabo did. "I forgive you." Normally Ace wouldn't have accepted apologies, not that he received them often. Something compelled him to say the words and that maybe it was because Sabo needed them.

Sabo gaped his mouth opening and closing, unable to utter a response.

Ace rubbed his neck and let out a meek laugh. "Not that you needed to apologize."

"But…" Sabo protested. Wasn't the man even a little angry with him for shoving him all of a sudden?

"Do you want me to be mad?" Ace raised an eyebrow in question.

Sabo shook his head. "No but I thought you'd be."

"A little shove isn't going to hurt me, Sabo." He crossed his legs, resting his cheek on his knuckles. He stared straight into Sabo's eyes. "Don't you underestimate pirates."

Sabo perked up. "You're a pirate?!" he yelled in a loud whisper.

That startled Ace. "Yeah I am, I didn't tell you?"

The blonde's eyes were shimmering like the stars outside. "You didn't!"

Ace thought Sabo was going to leap onto him like before and shifted backwards just incase. However, the blonde didn't and instead bounced in place.

_If it's him, maybe he'd…maybe I could ask him to take me out to sea. Out of Goa Kingdom!_

While those thoughts swirled in his mind, he peeked at the freckled man. He didn't want to ask and impose the man yet again. Sabo shelved the request for another time—as long as he wasn't spot, he had time. Another chance could present itself for him to escape this island.

"If you're a pirate what're you here for? There's nothing exciting on this island."

"I came to visit Luffy. Are you saying pirates can't have breaks?" He smiled cheekily.

"No I didn't say that." Sabo stared at the sky again and spoke carefully. "You told me that you're a pirate. It's only fair if I shared something."

Ace looked at him, curious about the man that Luffy and him have gotten so used to in a matter of a couple days.

"My dream is to become a pirate. Set sail on the seas travelling to places far from here." Sabo said proudly. He grinned and swept a finger under his nose.

Ace made a sound of impression. "Another rival huh?" and he also grinned.

Sabo's face changed into one of fierce determination but still with twinkling eyes. "I'm going to be free."

The words hit Ace and right then, he'd felt a close bond beginning to form between them.


	5. Chapter 5

The cool gust of wind made Sabo shiver slightly. He glanced over at Ace and sighed. He did say he didn't want to sleep yet but did they really have to come down to Windmill Village to chat? They could have stepped outside the house so they wouldn't disturb Luffy instead of this.

Sabo eyed his surroundings for anything suspicious as they walked along the streets. He was starting to regret agreeing to go drink with the man at Makino's bar. His intention was to flat out refuse to leave Dadan's house when Ace had asked him, though his mouth ran faster than his brain could think.

"We're here, let's go." Ace said and passed the flapping doors.

Sabo looked up, taking the shop's appearance in. He sighed again and followed Ace. Somehow the two brother's idiocy had affected him and in a bad way.

The amount of noise and liveliness in the room caught him off guard and he stopped, his feet glued to the floorboards. There were men sitting at the counter, their faces flushed, waving their bottles in the air as they talked. There was loud murmuring, squeaking of chair legs and people yelling their orders over other people who looked like pirates or bandits.

"Sabo."

When he heard his name being called he quickly straightened up and took a seat beside Ace by the counter.

"I'll have beer."

Ace and Makino turned to him. "Oh, I'll have…" he trailed off, having troubles of what to drink, "Earl Grey."

Makino blinked and knitted her eyebrows, "Sorry I don't usually serve that so I don't have any here right now."

"Oh.." He tried not to look disappointed.

"Are you kidding me? Tea at a bar? He'll get beer too, Makino."

Makino nodded and went to grab the beer along with the glasses.

"Listen here Sabo, pirates drink and they like to a _lot_ and party like crazy for no reason." Ace laughed as the thought of Shanks popped in his mind. That man would party hard all day, never stopping unless he was knocked unconscious by a crew member or more likely, Ben.

"Sure, okay…"

Makino placed their foaming beers in front of each of them. "Tell me if you guys need anything else." With a nod from them, she left to tend other customers.

Ace grabbed the glass and gulped it down, tilting his head far back until it was empty. Sabo couldn't believe anyone could just down beer that fast and picked his glass, sipping it.

He kept glancing at Ace as he refilled glass after glass without any breaks in between other than the time it took for Makino to come and pour the beer. Sabo could see his face was getting redder by the glass.

Ace smiled and grabbed the bottom of Sabo's lifted glass. Sabo turned his head to look at Ace in confusion when the force of his glass pushed against his mouth made his head tip back and let more liquid than he was prepared for in.

"Bwuh!" He choked, the beer sliding past his throat without him meaning to drink it. Tears welled in his eyes and he shut them, trying to breathe. He drank and finally he was able to breathe again.

Sabo took a deep inhale of oxygen and shouted, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

He was met with Ace's usual smirk and it annoyed him, knowing he was being teased.

"I thought you were drinking too slow."

"Why would that matter?"

Ace yawned. He put his weight onto the counter, his head resting on crossed arms, looking at him from the side.

"When pirates are sad, they drink their sorrows away," he said softly.

Sabo stiffened, forgetting his annoyance at the man. Ace was staring at him in his eyes. He shifted in his seat wanting to tear his eyes away from Ace.

Reading his discomfort, Ace slung an arm over Sabo's shoulder.

"You act too much like an adult, Sabo."

His stomach dropped. Ace's eyes held a firm grip on him, one that wouldn't let him turn away.

"You should cry when you feel sad or at least drown in the alcohol and go down like a man!" Ace laughed, holding his empty glass up, almost falling off his seat.

Sabo let out a breath and wanted to say something. Nothing came out. He brushed his thumb against his other hand to calm himself.

"I don't know your circumstances, Sabo but you shouldn't have to pretend to be strong. You're still young, rely on people, rely on me and Luffy."

His heart lurched in his chest at the words. He clutched his shirt, shaking and he looked down.

"Why would you…" It came out scratchy and wobbly. He sniffed, checking if his nose was running.

"Somehow I can't leave you alone…" Ace redirected his gaze to the the bottles of alcohol on the shelf behind the counter. "I mean I'm just saying the same words someone said to me before." He smiled in fondness.

Sabo looked up again and asked, "Who…?" He ignored the first part—it seemed Ace couldn't care at the moment to elaborate.

"Heh." Ace turned so his back was facing Sabo. "You see this tattoo?" He gestured to his back with a thumb.

Sabo nodded.

"This here, is my greatest pride. The mark of the Whitebeard Pirates." And surely enough, he stated it with much pride.

Sabo's shoulders loosened and his eyes widened. "Y-you're a Whitebeard..pirate…"

Ace turned back to face him now, "Man, I thought you read the newspaper. You should've recognized my tattoo. I'm a little hurt."

"Huh, I'm sorry." Sabo chuckled at the man's sarcasm. "I…" He glanced at Ace, "My father…" a cringe, "prohibits me from reading any articles relating to infamous pirates." He pressed his thumbs together and held them still.

"I'm completely wasted, Sabo. You're talking to a drunk man, go on."

Sabo snorted and lightly pushed Ace's shoulder. He slumped in his seat and smiled. "I've been stuck with studying my whole life, lessons in mannerism, courteousness and etiquette. The town's full of nasty people…To be honest it's stifling to the point where I can't breathe."

Ace listened carefully, his forehead touching the counter. He mentally noted the details. No wonder he was strangely polite if he took lessons on it. Which town was he talking about? Was it one of the towns in Goa Kingdom?

"That's why I want to be a pirate. On the sea, there's no one that can dictate my life—no one can tell me what to do. I'll be free."

Underneath his mop of hair, Ace's mouth lifted into a smile. There was no mistake. This was exactly how he felt years ago when he decided to leave Dawn Island to form his own crew. Sabo was similar to him in a sense whether the blonde liked it or not.

The two sat and didn't make an effort to say anything more. They allowed the background murmurs of customers ease their silence.

Makino stepped behind the bar counter and giggled when she saw the two men. "Is Ace finally drunk and sleeping?"

Ace jolted from the counter top, "I'm not down yet!"

Sabo snorted. "Surprisingly, no." He shook his head, his lips creeping upwards.

Makino stared at them with amused eyes, humming in equal amusement. Curious, Sabo followed her line of sight and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. He looked back at the woman to see her warm expression.

Sabo did a double-take and became aware that Ace's arm was still resting over his shoulder. To think he didn't notice the arm, it was no wonder they were getting an amused reaction from Makino.

"Hey, Ace." Sabo held Ace's wrist with his right hand. It's then that he also noticed he left his gloves in Luffy's room. He was ready to go to bed that time and drinking at a bar wasn't in his plans.

"What?"

"You can get your arm off me now." He tugged on the wrist.

"Why? If you're gonna be a pirate you gotta at least get used to this." Ace laughed. He didn't realize it was this much fun to tease Sabo, like how he'd tease Luffy.

Sabo sighed. He lifted Ace's arm off his shoulder and let the arm drop to the man's side.

"Have your arm back."

"You're no fun," Ace grumbled.

But to be truthful, Sabo didn't mind the contact—on the contrary, he felt comforted. He wished Makino would stop her amused filled gaze. He could feel her eyes boring into him.

"You guys seem like brothers rather than friends." Makino smiled.

Ace's heart beat with a thump. He smirked to himself. So that was why…Why he was so compelled to help Sabo, to talk to him, to get him involved. They were similar, and because they were similar the fondness he felt towards the blonde was probably how he felt towards Luffy opposed to the Whitebeard crew.

"Brothers…We look like that?" Sabo said as if he couldn't believe it.

Makino bowed her head. "Yep. You argue but you're very close. That's how it looks to me."

_A brother huh. Stelly…_

"You're free to call me big bro."

Seeing Ace's smug face made him want to roll his eyes in playful exasperation.

"How do you know if you're older?" He challenged, raising both eyebrows.

"I'm pretty sure I am if we're the same age."

"You're 20?" Sabo asked.

"Yeah. Now I'm dead certain. My birthday's January 1st."

"Mine's March 20, damn it." Oh how Sabo wanted to wipe that smirk off Ace's face.

Makino left the men alone for the rest of the night. The two chatted until Makino had to kick them out saying that she needed sleep too.

* * *

Ace stretched his arms above his head, rolling his joints. "That was fun."

Beside him Sabo yawned before answering, "Yeah, it was." He rubbed a tear out of his eye as they tiptoed back inside Dadan's place and up the ladder to Luffy's room. He pulled Luffy's blanket up.

"Goodnight Ace." There was no response and he dragged his lazy eyes to find Ace. He was already collapsed on the ground. Sabo smiled and with a flop, he lay under the covers with Luffy.

* * *

After that night of drinking, the two men made it a routine to go every couple nights if not everyday to Makino's place. They would eat, drink beer or water or Sabo would have his Earl Grey Makino specifically got him and chat.

Ace found it odd that Sabo wouldn't go out during the day and the only place he'd be willing to go to was Makino's bar. Gray Terminal and Edge Town was a definite no for the blonde. It was clear that Sabo had reasons to stay away from the place.

"Awww, Sabo's not coming with us again?" Luffy whined.

Ace laughed and ruffled his brother's hair. "Nope, not today."

Though, if Sabo told him who was hurting him….

"Ace…" Luffy sweated and stared in fearful eyes. "Your face is kind of scary."

Ace laughed again and pulled the boy's cheeks, lifting him to his eye level.

"Am I?"

"Unnhgf…S-stof it..Ace.." Luffy tried to be annoyed but failed with his cheeks being stretched.

* * *

**A/N**: I just finished writing this instead of trying to catch up with my classes ahaha like usual...Sorry if this seems like it's going slow. I do mean to put more content but things got long...

I think I'll be writing again tomorrow when I get home from school and if I don't get stuck or distracted I'll finish the chapter the same day. Thank you for your support!


	6. Chapter 6

"We'll be back for lunch," Ace said at the doorway.

"Okay."

Luffy was outside on the ground trying to stuff as much meat as he could in Ace's watermelon patterned knapsack.

"Come on, Luffy. You're the one who said there's something you wanna go find." Ace bent down to pick his knapsack from the ground and slung it over a shoulder with Luffy in tow.

"At Gray Terminal huh…" Sabo muttered to himself.

"Shi, shi, shi." Luffy grinned at him. "It's a secret from Sabo!"

Ace and Sabo wondered why. Though, if Sabo really wanted to know, he could've asked Luffy directly. He learned through Ace that Luffy was a terrible liar who would answer any question thrown at him while looking away with whistling fish lips.

"Have fun and be careful." Sabo waved as the the pair began walking away.

"See you later, Sabooo!" Luffy waved back with an excited face after he'd hop down from Ace's knapsack.

Ace gestured with a hand. "We will."

Their figures disappeared as they went into the bushes. When they were gone, Sabo puffed out a breath and went into the house thinking of doing the mountain bandit's laundry. It would be a waste not to when it was this hot and sunny.

* * *

Luffy turned around, staring at the layers of shrubs and greens they'd passed. He craned his neck to look at Ace and frowned.

"Ace you dummy."

"Huh?" Ace gazed down at his little brother and exclaimed. "How am I a dummy, you moron?"

Luffy spat his tongue at him. "You just are and don't call me a moron!"

Branches snapped underneath their shoes. Ace pointed at Luffy. "Don't call your big brother a dummy."

"Then don't call your little brother a moron!" He retorted. Luffy crossed his arms and huffed. "You didn't tell me I missed Sabo's birthday."

"And that makes me a dummy?"

"You guys celebrated without me! Sabo told me." Luffy pouted. He threw a rubbery punch at Ace's knee only to fall through from imbalance and landed on his butt.

Flames changed back into a leg. "What're you trying to do, Luffy? I'm fire remember?" He shook his head at the boy's carelessness. He kept walking as Luffy stood and caught up.

"So what're we trying to find for Sabo?"

Luffy stopped. "How do you know it's for Sabo?" He opened his mouth.

"Well if you're annoyed about missing his birthday and it's a secret from him, I think—"

Luffy laughed. "Why didn't you tell me you were a psychic, Ace?"

"What, I'm no—"

"We're here!" He dashed out of the forest and into the open area.

Ace rubbed his neck and followed. "Are you going to tell me what we're gonna look for?"

Luffy was already digging through piles of scrap metal and other junk the townspeople of Goa dumped. He tossed the items behind him, searching for a specific object. Ace had to dodge them and crouched beside Luffy.

"A telescope." Luffy grinned.

Ace paused, staring at the boy's face before asking, "I thought you wanted a telescope, but you're finding one for Sabo?"

"Shi, shi shi. Yep! Sabo will need it more than me." Luffy stopped his hands and stared back. With a happy smile he said, "Sabo's going to be a pirate, right? He'll need a telescope!"

Ace had to wrack his brain to remember when he'd told Luffy. "Yeah he is and I guess he'll…need one." He placed a thumb and finger on his chin and nodded.

_Yeah, he'll need one._

"Sabo told me!" Luffy beamed. "I can't wait until I become a pirate too!"

Ace searched Luffy's face, his eyes, his cheeks, everything. He made a look and Luffy noticed.

"What's wrong?" He tilted his head.

"No…" Ace turned, continuing to absently knock over metal sheets with his hand. "It's nothing."

"What, Ace you don't want to tell me?"

Ace gave his brother a tiny smile. Luffy would always be Luffy. "I'll talk about it another time."

Luffy seemed content with the answer and jumped to his feet. If Ace said he would say another time, he would. He ran to a different pile and started rummaging it.

"Hurry, Ace! I wanna eat Sabo's lunch soon!" he complained.

Ace sighed and went for a pile in the opposite direction. "You just ate breakfast, Luffy."

Luffy's head bobbed up from the pile and stretched his arm, aiming for Ace's knapsack. Ace sensed the incoming arm and swiftly smacked the hand to the gravel.

"Ow!" Luffy flinched as his hand bounced from the ground and snapped back, the force curling him into a tumbling ball before he crashed into someone's home.

Ace scratched his head and brought an object his hand had grabbed up. He looked at the object , turning it from side to side.

Luffy stomped forward and yelled, "Ace! Why'd you do that for?"

"You ate breakfast, at least wait a while before you eat the meat." Ace held the object in front of Luffy and said, "Look, I found one."

Luffy wrapped his fingers around the folded telescope and he lit up. "Wow! We found one already! Now I can give Sabo his present." He snickered.

"Yeah."

Since the search for the telescope was shorter than they expected, the brothers hung around Gray Terminal for an hour more, finding various items. Ace had found a stronger, durable steel pipe for Luffy, to which the boy was excited about and Luffy had found a kid-sized bicycle.

He inspected the bicycle from under, the side and above. Luffy hummed, puzzled about the mysterious object with wheels.

"Geez, Luffy it's just a," Ace paused as he realized something. He crouched down and pat the bicycle. "Do you want me to teach you how to ride this?"

Luffy brought his eyes to settle on Ace's. "You ride this? Like how you ride a horse? Like a ship and like a dog?"

Ace had to blink at the last one but brushed it off. "Yeah."

"You'll teach me? Really?" He swore he could see disbelief and joy in his brother's eyes.

Ace nodded and Luffy grinned.

Some tens of minutes later, Luffy was spilling out tears, holding onto Ace as tightly as he could with his arms stretched out.

"Aceeee, you're going too fast! I don't think you're teaching me right." Snot was dripping down his chin and flew off his face. They were going that fast.

"Hahaha." Ace glanced behind him and laughed. "Your face is freaking dirty, Luffy." He pedalled harder. "There are things you learn by experiencing the feeling, that's what I'm doing. Are you doubting how I teach?"

Luffy swayed side to side, up and down, running into tree branches. Leaves stuck to his hair and he shouted, "I'm not! I just don't think you're doing it right!" A sharp jerk, collided him into a tree trunk that left him dizzy for a few seconds and shook his head.

Without turning his head again, Ace looked ahead and shouted, "That's the same as doubting me! Crybaby."

"I'm not a crybaby! I'll be stronger than you one day and beat you up!" Luffy ground his teeth and puffed steam from his nostril.

Ace laughed.

"Don't laugh!" he barked.

The older smiled. "I know."

The response perplexed and he didn't know what he meant so Luffy shrugged.

* * *

Sabo hummed as he finally hung the last piece of clothing onto the tree branches. A wailing voice from afar caught his attention. Wondering what it could possibly be, Sabo paced around from the back of the house to the front. He waited.

"Whaaaa! I'm telling Sabo on you Ace, remember this!"

Sabo looked up. It was Luffy shouting. He squinted as Luffy came flying closer and closer.

Ace blanched and whipped his head back. "Wait, don't Luffy. I'm sorry just don—" His foot slipped off the pedal, "Oh shit…" and the pair flew into the house.

A breeze tickled Sabo's cheek, his response delayed. He turned around and ran to the brothers.

"Are you guys okay?! What were you doing?" Sabo's hands hovered over their bodies in worry.

Ace was upside down and fell onto his side, rubbing his head. Luffy was squashed between Ace and the wall, falling on his face when Ace moved aside.

Sabo let out a breath of relief. Knowing they weren't hurt, he noticed another object that crashed into the house.

"Why's there a bike…"

Luffy pushed himself up, not knowing where to start with so many things to tell Sabo. "I found a bike and and then Ace said he'd try to teach me!"

Sabo's eyebrows and lips thinned into a line. He looked at Ace for an explanation.

"I can explain I swear." Ace signaled with his hand for Sabo to stop and calm. He uttered uhs and incoherent words. Sabo side glanced to Luffy.

Luffy grasped both of Sabo's sleeve when he got up. He tugged them and said, "Ace said the best way for me to learn how to ride a bicycle was to experience the feeling. Whatever that means…And he told me to put my arms around him and he started pedalling reeeeally," he moved his arms in a swoosh to demonstrate, "reeeally fast. I hit a lot of tree branches along the way home." He sniffed.

"We'll get you washed up after." Sabo smiled and rubbed dirt off Luffy's cheek. He narrowed his blue eyes at Ace.

"I think you have something to say to Luffy before you try to defend yourself."

Ace mechanically turned his head. "Sorry little brother."

Luffy's tear stained face instantly transformed into his usual bright grin. "Then I forgive you!" he declared.

Ace's eyes softened, his insides warming with affection until he felt a hand grasp his shoulder.

"But I won't Ace." Sabo smiled. "Not until you explain to me why you thought what you did was a good idea." He gave the shoulder a firm squeeze.

Ace stiffened and smiled just as stiffly. "It wasn't a good idea."

"Oh…?" Sabo closed his eyes and reopened them with a dangerous glint in them.

_Crack._

Ace rolled his eyes to the side to see the wooden walls by his head crushed into pieces—a hole gaping open, sunlight shining through.

"Come on, Sabo, we were just fooling around. No one got hurt, okay?" Ace desperately tried to calm Sabo down, then hopefully he wouldn't get himself into a bad situation. He'd like to avoid getting crushed like the wall. That's some scary grip he had.

Sabo sighed. "I know you guys aren't hurt. Luffy's made of rubber but…" During one of their night outings, Ace had mentioned Luffy was also a devil fruit user. It took much effort to restrain himself from stretching Luffy's limbs to confirm the fact. He didn't want the boy to hate him already, though he'd have to reconsider that seeing how he forgave Ace that casually.

Ace watched as Sabo sat on his heels. Sabo swiped the strands of hair away from his eyes, seeming to contemplate something.

"…I don't." He sighed and looked at Ace with a face. "I didn't think you were that bad at teaching people how to ride a bicycle."

The side of Ace's lips twitched. "Why you…" He lunged at Sabo, getting behind him and locking the blonde's head with his arms.

Sabo laughed and tapped Ace's arm. "You know, Luffy, if you want to learn, you should ask me. I bet I'll be better help than this guy."

Luffy grinned, waving his fists up and down. "Really!?"

"Yeah."

"Hey! That's insulting."

Sabo turned his head as much as he could with Ace still holding his head in a lock and said, "It isn't insulting, don't worry."

"Keh! Whatever."

Ace grumbled and loosened his hold on Sabo. He felt the blonde's fingers touch his forearm, noting that he wasn't or probably hadn't been wearing his fire proof leather gloves recently.

"You guys make me worry with your crazy stunts…"

Ace breath caught in his throat. Sabo was worried? Even though he'd just said he knew they weren't hurt? If he was worried did that mean he cared—was he being cared for? With uncertainty and hesitance prickling him, he slowly rested his chin atop of Sabo's head. His hair was surprisingly soft, Ace could fall asleep like this.

Sabo slackened his body into the one behind him—never mind that he was currently in a headlock.

Luffy stared and shoved his pinky in his nose. "Are we going to bathe now?"

Sabo jerked forward. "Uh, yeah, let's go."

Ace freed him from his grasp and Sabo followed Luffy's lead to the bathroom. When the blonde and his little brother entered the bathroom, he leaned back, flopping onto the floor. After spending several minutes of staring at the ceiling, he got up and to go wash up at nearby river.

He rounded the house and stopped in his tracks. He saw steam wisp out and walked towards it. He heard Luffy giggle and peered into the window with caution as to not get caught.

"Okay now close your eyes so the shampoo doesn't get in your eye." Sabo said.

Luffy obeyed and shut his eyes. Sabo poured a bucket of water over his head and helped the boy sit up when he went limp. Luffy hummed, recovering from the water. Sabo was scrubbing his back, the suds bubbling more than the steam.

"Sabo would be a good brother…" Luffy mumbled.

"Hm?" Sabo didn't hear, too busy with cleaning the boy but Ace heard it loud and clear.

Staring for a moment longer, he stuck his head inside the room. "Luffy!"

Luffy and Sabo shot their head towards the window, startled by the sudden third voice.

"Ace, what in the world are you doing?" Sabo felt exposed even if the steam covered every inch of the bathroom. How often did someone's head come popping through while he was bathing? Luffy was different because he was child but Ace was a full grown adult.

Luffy was unfazed and answered, "What?"

Ace waved at Sabo, smiling at them both. "Get the sake out, we're gonna drink when I get back."

"Okay." Luffy nodded and Sabo couldn't believe the brothers. Ace was going to drink with Luffy and Luffy sounded like it wasn't anything out of the norm.

Ace left the two alone and trekked through the forest for a stream or river.

_I guess it's decided. _

* * *

**A/N**: I made it woo! It took be 5 hours or so but I made it with about half an hour to spare of today. I'm freaking tired now though haha. Let me drop dead and sleep in tomorrow. Hope this was an enjoyable chapter for you guys!


	7. Chapter 7

Luffy scurried back into the house to retrieve the three sake cups he forgot to get when he stole Dadan's sake. Sabo sat on a tree stump with a leg crossed over the other, wondering what the brothers were up to with the whole idea of drinking sake.

When Luffy came out with the three cups, he presented it to Ace, excitement making him bounce on the spot.

Ace took the cups with his free hand—the other hand occupied with the bottle of sake—and led the way into the forest. Luffy was jumping closely behind while Sabo was nervous about stepping into the forest.

The nervous feeling, however, was washed away when he heard a familiar soothing sound. He quickly picked up his pace to walk along beside Ace and Luffy. Brushing the final layer of leaves and branches out of the way, a bright and vast scenery greeted him.

"It's the…ocean," Sabo said in awe.

Luffy skipped to stand beside Sabo and laughed. "It's like you've never seen the ocean before Sabo!"

"Well, even if you're used to seeing it everyday, it's always beautiful," Ace said from behind.

The Windmill Village was right by the ocean and so was Makino's bar, but when Sabo went at night, he could barely make out the dark waters, only catching a few glistening gleams. This was it. This was what he longed for his entire life. He wanted to sit at the edge of the cliff and watch the waves of the water move, watch the waves crash against the rocks below—it made an emotion he couldn't quite describe well in his chest.

"What do you think, Sabo?"

Sabo turned to the man with a sloppy lop-sided grin. "There are no words to explain what I think of it," he faced the ocean again, "just it's amazing." A breeze blows his hair, shading his closed eyes. When he opened them again—not realizing how Ace was watching him—he joined the two brothers to sit on the grass.

With the three cups on a tree stump, Ace popped the cork off the bottle and poured the sake into each of the cups.

"Have you heard, Sabo? When you exchange sake cups, you become brothers."

Sabo paused and his eyes lightened up.

_Brothers._

"Is that really okay?" he asked in a way it sounded like he couldn't believe it rather in question.

Luffy chuckled. "I want Sabo as my brother too!"

"Me and Luffy already did this a couple years ago. We want you to be our brother. Do you not want to?"

Sabo shook his head, a smile stuck on his face. "I do, if you guys are fine with me I want to be your brother." In contemplation he muttered under his breath, "So you two aren't blood-related brothers…"

"Yeah, but by exchanging sake, we formed a bond that will keep us connected as brothers," Ace explained and smiled. He picked up his cup, Luffy doing the same, and Sabo lifted his cup in the air.

_Clank._

"From today onwards, we're brothers!"

They cheered and drank the sake in one gulp.

* * *

The rest of the day was spent with Luffy pleading to Sabo to go eat ramen at the town.

"Pleeeease Sabo, the ramen there is super good!" Luffy pulled on Sabo's pants while the blonde was busy picking berries from the area close to the house.

He sighed. "Sorry Luffy, I can't go there. Maybe somewhere else like down at Windmill Village?" Sabo pat the dirt off his pants and stood, grabbing the basket full of berries.

"Windmill Village doesn't have ramen! Why can't Sabo go into town?" Luffy whined. He was still holding onto Sabo's pants.

Not wanting to lie to the boy and knowing that he wouldn't be able to avoid the question—Luffy had been trying to get him to go for the past couple hours—he said, "There are bad people there so I can't be seen or I'll be caught." He felt little hands release his pants and eyes stare at him dumbly.

Luffy tilted his head to the side. "If there's bad people bothering Sabo, then it'll be easy!" He turned on his heels and starting walking away, his arms swinging merrily. "If I beat up the bad guys, Sabo can go eat ramen with us."

"W-wait! It doesn't work like that Luffy!" Sabo threw a hand to lay on Luffy's shoulder.

Luffy faced Sabo and wormed a pinky into his nostril. "It'll work. There's nothing difficult about it Sabo, you're more of an idiot than I thought."

Sabo laughed as he shouted, "I don't want to be told that by you!" He glanced away and back at Luffy and sighed. "Listen Luffy, I—"

A nearby shrub rustled and a man blinked at them.

"What're you guys doing?"

"Ace!" Luffy ran to Ace and climbed up to cling onto his arm. "Sabo said he doesn't want to go to eat ramen with us!"

Ace tousled Luffy's hair and snickered. "I know, hasn't he been rejecting you for the past two three hours? Think it's time to give up."

"No!" Luffy leaped down and stood with both arms on his hips. "Sabo said there are bad guys in the town so he can't go." He pointed to Sabo and Ace glanced over. Sabo gave a small smile.

Luffy continued with animated motions to emphasize what he was saying, "If there are bad guys in there, all we gotta do is beat them up and we can go eat ramen together right?"

Sabo shot a look at Ace, his expression signalling the man to not get aboard on Luffy's plan and not gang up on him. When he received a smirk, he wanted to slap himself multiple times knowing where this was going.

"You can't refuse now Sabo," was all Ace said before hoisting Sabo up on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and racing out of the forests in a matter of tens of seconds. Sabo was dropped onto the ground and slowly got to his feet, the ride to Gray Terminal giving him motion sickness.

It wouldn't hurt to try to escape having lunch with these two…with his brothers again.

"I think it'd be a good idea not to go you know." He took a step before the back of his coat was grabbed.

"Yeah, I don't think so." Ace proceeded to drag Sabo along, the heel of the blonde's boots scraping against the scrap and dirt. Luffy jogged to keep up with his brothers, pleased that Sabo would join them for an extremely late lunch—it was more of an early dinner in the evening.

As the three grew closer to the wall that separated the town and Gray Terminal, Sabo noticed that they weren't going through the gateway.

"The gateway isn't this way," he stated.

Ace grunted. "Yeah, we know. We can't just waltz through."

"Right." Sabo may or may have not forgotten that only citizens of the town and people who wanted to sell goods could go in. With the amount of time of his life he spent within these walls, in this town, he probably did forget and now he was going back. He shivered, dread sinking his heart.

Ace stopped and took a peek over his shoulder at Sabo. "…What's wrong Sabo?"

His mouth opened, yet no sound came out. Sabo clamped down on his lips to stop his shivering and opted to shake his head.

Ace turned around and gripped Sabo's shoulders. He craned his neck to get a better look at Sabo face—the blonde's downcast eyes were shielded with his hair.

"Sabo?"

Luffy who was further up ahead, realized something was wrong and stopped. With a hand gesture from Ace to wait, he stood in place staring at the two from afar.

Ace didn't want to shake Sabo too hard, the man looked too fragile at the moment and so he waited. His brows crinkled in concern. He could hear Sabo's shaky shallow breaths and his attempt to hide them.

Sabo couldn't face Ace. If he lifted his face, he'd know what a wreck he was judging from Ace's expression and he didn't want that kind of look on the man's face. To know he was the one who caused Ace to wear such expression would stab him in the gut with guilt. He shook his head again, reluctant to lift his head up. Where was his hat when he needed it.

Ace sighed deeply. He immediately regretted the action when he felt Sabo flinch.

"Sabo? What's wrong, look at me," Ace said softly but firmly. A sharp intake of breath could be heard and he could see clear liquid running down Sabo's cheeks. Ace moved one of his hands up to brush against the other's cheek. He gently urged Sabo to lift his head.

The knot of uneasiness untangled in his stomach one knot at a time as Ace brushed his cheek. He wanted to lift his head, he wanted to look into Ace's eyes and find out what was there. With how careful and soft the man's touch was, he was sure Ace was worried.

_Worried about me?_

Sabo let a tiny snigger leave his throat. He shook his head at the thought. A low, familiar voice brought him to attention.

"Sabo…" He could hear his name echo in his ears, the tone resounding wholly in care and concern.

Sabo lifted his head with another nudge from Ace's hand resting on the side of his face. His eyes fluttered as the man swept away his hair blocking his sight.

"It's the town isn't it? We don't have to go if you don't want to." Ace was a bit ashamed to have let his joke go as far as to make Sabo tremble in fear. He didn't think it was this bad.

"Sorry, it's nothing serious." It came out raspy.

Ace narrowed his gaze. How was this nothing? Sabo's blue eyes were watery and he was still shaken up.

_Don't lie to me._

"Sabo, come on, we should get you back to Dadan's." Ace nudged the shoulder he had in his grasp—his other hand already brought down from Sabo's cheek. He frowned.

"The ramen place is at Town Center right? If so, it isn't really a problem." Sabo couldn't hide the unsteadiness in his voice. He bit his bottom lip and looked to the left. "See, Luffy's waiting and—"

"Sabo." Ace nearly growled his name and took ahold of the man's shoulders again. His fingers dug into the thin coat. He stepped closer to Sabo and stared into his eyes for a while before pushing the man back. He turned around and began striding towards Luffy, sighing.

Sabo stood there simply watching Ace's back—the tattoo on his back as well—distance itself from him.

"Thank y…" he tried to call out, but it faded into a mumble. Sabo walked forward, the mix of dirt and gravel crunching underneath his boots. Ace peeked behind his shoulder, seeing Sabo catch up.

"Thank you," Sabo repeated, this time Ace listening, if eye contact was a clear indication. The man didn't respond and said the other thing he wanted to say, "I like it when you call my name."

_It makes me feel like I'm right here. _

Ace blinked and tapped Sabo's shoulder with the back of his knuckles. "You're welcome," he said and Sabo laughed.

"But tell me when you can't stand it, if you don't, I'll make sure you don't get to eat any of that delicious ramen." Ace sang the last part, returning to his usual spirited self.

"I will, promise. I won't scare you like that again. But that's rude if you take people's portion of food, you're going to starve me." Sabo wiped his damp cheeks with his coat sleeve and saw Luffy fuming up ahead.

"Hah! I was not scared and no one said I was gonna starve you," Ace retorted.

Sabo smiled, he'll give Ace that. He might have not been scared, maybe worried…His smile broadened as he became aware that the man had said he wasn't getting any _ramen_ if he broke his promise.

"Geez, you guys took so long! I'm so hungry I could eat the whole island's food stock!"

Sabo apologized while Ace threw his arms behind his head, teasing Luffy. The three walked side by side in their usual bickering kind of peacefulness.

"What did you guys talk about?" Luffy asked and the two older brothers replied with a nothing much.

* * *

**A/N: **Okay, more dramatic than what I thought which was no drama. I swear this just gets longer than intended. Finished this today in 3 hours praise me ahaha! Please excuse the mistakes, I haven't checked through this yet. As always, hopefully this chapter was an enjoyable one for you guys.


	8. Chapter 8

The three brothers came to a halt when they were close enough to touch the stone walls. Ace placed a palm on the gray stone, listlessly patting it.

He turned to Luffy and said, "When you get to the top, help Sabo up."

The boy stretched his arms and legs left to right and responded with a loud, "Okay!" Luffy wound his shoulder once and stretched his arms upwards until his fingertips had a grasp on the edge of the wall.

"Wait, what are we doing?" Sabo asked, confused.

Ignoring him, Luffy suddenly shot up like a rocket and disappeared from sight.

"You went too fast you idiot!" Ace shouted, facing the direction where the boy supposedly flew. He scratched his head in frustration and grumbled. Sabo whipped his head back several times between Ace and the top of the wall Luffy just flew over.

He pointed to the wall, "Is that okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine." Ace thought he saw a blur of motion and squinted. It was Luffy waving his hand. It looked like he might have rocketed too high and crashed into the wall with the dust flouring his cheeks.

Sabo lifted his head and squinted as well. There was an arm stretching down quickly. He had a clue of what the two were thinking and mentally braced—maybe being physically prepared would do him good too—himself of what was to come.

"So Sabo, you just hold onto Luffy," Ace tugged on Luffy's hand, showing off its elasticity, "and he'll pull you up."

With a tentative step, reaching out for Luffy's hand that was in Ace's, Sabo gave one last look to the high wall.

"I'm kind of worried about this…" he spoke truthfully and Ace smiled, slapping his shoulder.

"It's fine, Luffy's pretty strong despite his looks," Ace paused, "just like you."

Sabo would be lying if he said he didn't doubt those words. Luffy was still a child, devil fruit user or not. Wouldn't the weight of an adult be too much for him to carry? He let out a breath and took Luffy's hand in his, holding onto it tightly with both hands. Almost in an instant, he felt a movement and he was propelled upwards. He barely caught Ace's words as he was in flight, but he was sure it was what he thought it was.

"Have a safe trip!" Ace waved a hand, a grin on his face. "Well then, I guess I'll start climbing…"

From the speed he was going at, the wind was strong, the prickling feeling forcing his eyes to water before closing them shut. He reopened them when he started decelerating. "Luffy…!" Sabo peered down at the boy, his lower half of his body floating higher up in the air than his upper half. He extended his gloveless hands instinctively, his coat rippling behind him as he came to a stop.

Luffy gazed up at Sabo who flew above him with wide eyes. "Oops." His stretched rubber arm made a strained groan and without warning, it snapped back, dragging Sabo along.

"No way," Sabo uttered before shutting his eyes tight as he collided into Luffy with full force. His weight combined with the force of Luffy's rubber snapping knocked the two over the edge of the stone wall and sent them into a free-fall.

Sabo's screech overpowered Luffy's hearty laughter and he wrapped his arms around the boy. Falling from such a high altitude would surely cause some serious damage to both of them. It made Sabo's stomach to drop, his heart jump out of his ribcage and pound loud in his ears.

Luffy continued to laugh, tears gushing from his eyes—Sabo really didn't know what part of this situation was laughable. The man tightened his hold on Luffy, huffing a little too rapidly to be good.

"Luffy!" Using the flat surface of the stone wall as leverage, Ace kicked off, driving himself downwards at a blinding speed. "Sabo!" He threw out an arm to reach for the pair, but as he got closer to touching them by his fingertips, they slipped away. He accelerated, manipulating his flames to act as thrusters. Ace swooped down and carried his brothers in his arms.

Sabo slowly cracked his eyes he didn't know when he had closed, open as he felt a weight around him.

"Ace!" For the moment, he was relieved.

Ace smiled. "Hold on tight," he said and Sabo released one arm holding Luffy to wrap around Ace's torso. Once he did, Ace landed onto the roof of a building, jumping from one to another until the man put him down.

Ace turned to Luffy, picking the boy up by his rubbery cheeks. "Hey, Luffy, be more careful. Sabo isn't made out of rubber like you, he'd actually get hurt if he fell."

"Sorry, but Sabo's not hurt so it's okay right?" Luffy grinned.

"I guess…No you idiot of course it isn't okay. How're you gonna keep Sabo safe when I'm gone?!" Ace hissed. He squished his brother's cheeks. He dropped Luffy and walked.

"Ace I think you have it backwards. You're supposed to say to me to take care of Luffy instead of the other way around," Sabo said as he followed the man.

"It's right 'cause I'm stronger than Sabo!" Luffy stated, thumping his chest with a fist, nose in the air.

"Hey, I think I'm stronger than you though, Luffy." Sabo narrowed his eyes at the boy.

Ace laughed and glanced at Luffy. "No way you are. Sabo's probably a hundred times stronger than you." He smirked.

They continued their bickering amongst themselves and before long, they arrived in front of the ramen shop. It wasn't as fancy as the restaurants in High Town for obvious reasons. Sabo wondered what this ramen was that had Ace and Luffy so excited.

"Welcome," a man bowed in greeting to the customers, rubbing his hands together. He straightened his back and took a look at the three, he waved his hands, "I'm sorry, we don't serve…your kind," he glanced at Ace, "people who are pirates in particular."

Ace glared at the man, about to give the manager a piece of his mind, Luffy following his example. Sabo dug into his inside coat pocket and presented a golden locket with a flower in the middle.

"I'd like your best private room," he said coolly. His expression stiff and eyes hard.

The man stepped aside and bowed in apology. "It's such an honour for a noble to come to our restaurant. We will prepare your room immediately."

Sabo exhaled as the man rushed off to prepare their room. Ace looked at Sabo.

"That's a pretty handy thing you got there," Ace said and he saw the blonde tense beside him.

"Yeah…" Sabo mumbled, not wanting to explain the locket. He put it back into his coat pocket.

Luffy was grinning. He had no idea why the ramen man changed his mind, letting them come in to eat but he guessed the man knew Sabo or something. He was already salivating, at long last, he could have his ramen.

* * *

"Here are your three orders of ramen! Sorry for the wait." The waitress placed the bowls and chopsticks on the red round table. "Please take your time and enjoy," she said and closed the door, leaving the three to their own privacy.

"So this is ramen…" Sabo took in the sight of the steaming bowl of noodles in front of him, a smile making its way to his face.

Luffy giggled at his reaction and Ace smirked. "Well, give it a try."

Sabo lifted the chopsticks and began to eat. The second the soup soaked noodles lay on his tongue, his eyes widened and swiftly fed them into his mouth. He slurped the ramen, occasionally picking up the bowl to drink the flavourful and rich soup stalk. He looked over to Ace and Luffy to see them cleaning the last bits of noodles of their bowl.

_They eat way too fast._

The two ate faster than Sabo and that was saying something especially when he'd thrown his table manners out the window several days ago trying to survive in their household—there was no room for petty table manners in a fight for food in that house.

Luffy licked his lips and shouted, "More!"

Ace snickered and agreed, "I think we'll need about 30 more bowls."

While Sabo didn't agree with the over-eating of one type of unhealthy food, it was only this one time and the ramen here was seriously good. "But really, why 30?" He drank the rest of the soup, emptying the bowl.

Ace leaned back on the chair's hind legs, his arm swung over the top of the chair, "15 for me, 10 for Luffy and 5 for you." The chair squeaked under the swaying weight.

Sabo crinkled his eyebrows. "Hey, hey, wait. What is with that obvious uneven allocation?"

"Why does Ace get 15 and I get 10?" Luffy whined. Ace pulled on his brother's lips, letting the rubber snap back enough so that Luffy's head hit the chair. The boy pouted.

"I say so and 'cause I'm paying…for once." He turned back to Sabo. "Would you eat more than 5 bowls?" Ace asked, raising an eyebrow. "I know you eat a lot but more than Luffy?"

Sabo glanced at the grinning boy bouncing in his seat, "No I guess not. Though I'm sure—"

_Thump_.

Luffy hit his chopsticks on the table, smiling. "Let's order more Sabo!"

"Shouldn't we wake Ace first?"

Luffy stuck his lips out, "He'll wake up soon anyways. Let's eat all we can before he wakes up! Less for him for trying to rip us off."

Did the boy understand what it meant to get ripped off or did he think it was a curse word? Sabo didn't think Ace was trying to rip them off but why correct the kid? He smiled and nodded.

"10 more servings please!"

* * *

Ace noticed Sabo's mood had been sour ever since they left the ramen restaurant and couldn't help the growing curiosity. The three brothers were strolling through the streets of Town Center, taking their time. Ace and Luffy stopped from time to time when they saw came across something interesting, leaving angry shopkeepers all over town—they had to clean the windows that had their oily face prints on them and the mess they'd left while browsing through the aisles.

Sabo had been silent for so long even Luffy started to notice. They kept walking and the boy blinked up at Sabo then decided to ask Ace instead.

"What's wrong with Sabo?" he whispered.

Ace looked down at his younger brother, taken aback for a second before answering, "I don't know." He was surprised Luffy showed signs of consideration for Sabo. Usually he'd ask people directly, not caring if the person was already in a foul mood. Ace's eyes shifted to the side and thought whatever got Sabo all quiet was rather serious.

Sabo was in deep thought. He replayed the words of the store manager just as they were leaving:

"Sir, my apologies, I did not think you were a noble. You had _that_ by your side that it completely slipped my mind." He caught Sabo before he passed through the door.

Sabo clenched his fist and with a refined tone replied, "No, that is fine. It was unreasonable of me to think I would be recognized as a noble in a situation like that."

The man nodded, smiling. "I am glad we agree." He leered and spoke in a low voice, "It's that isn't it?"

Sabo looked at the man and blinked. "It's what?"

"Oh you jest, I mean _that_," he said again. "You struck an empty deal with that pirate, have you not?" He chuckled behind a hand.

Sabo's eyes widened, fully aware of the implications the man was making. His legs shook and a chill ran down his spine. He wouldn't cause a ruckus here. He wouldn't, not in Town Center that neighboured High Town—where he…Sabo swallowed and contained his urge to lash out at the man.

He smiled politely. "Yes, I have. Now if you would excuse me, I have matters to attend to."

"Ah, yes why of course. Please come again!"

Sabo grit his teeth. He hated what he said, he hated how he could say those kind of things in a composed manner, how he seemed like he fit in with the people here—he hated himself. Sabo brought his head up and faced Ace when he heard the man call his name.

"What is it?" he asked.

Ace took wide strides, going faster than he usually did. He pointed backwards in a general direction. "Someone has been calling for you."

Sabo stiffened and sped into a slow jog to match Ace's pace. He didn't look back because if someone had been calling his name, it was someone he knew or worse, someone actively searching for him.

"Do you know him?"

Sabo shook his head and answered, "No, they must have the wrong person." He mingled into a crowd of people, trusting Ace and Luffy would follow him.

Ace chanced one last glimpse at the moustached man in a top hat similar to Sabo's and heard the next words clearly.

"Please, come home!"

He ran into the crow of people, following his two younger brothers, staying behind to make sure their backs were covered.

* * *

The trek through the forest was silent save for Luffy. Ace stopped, Sabo and Luffy stopping as well when he didn't move forward.

"Sabo." He looked Sabo dead in the eye.

It scared the blonde. He could tell from the man's gaze, what he wanted to say, what he wanted to know. Sabo turned away, taking another step. Before he could take a second, his arm was pulled back. It wasn't hard enough that he could shake it off, though the nagging in his guts told him to turn around and look at Ace. He did.

Ace squeezed Sabo's forearm, eyes resting on it for a while then moving it to rest onto Sabo's face. With a stern look he said, "Who was that?"

Sabo bit his lip, trying to utter the single word he wouldn't admit was true. He held his breath for as long as he could and mumbled.

Ace grunted in confusion. He could see Sabo's inner struggle in his expression, but he persisted. He had said before he would wait for the blonde, that he wouldn't pry into his circumstances, yet here he was doing the exact opposite.

"Father," Sabo said after continuously opening and closing his mouth. He stared to the side.

"That man was your father," Ace reiterated. It echoed in his mind—there was something that could be concluded with that fact. What was it about Sabo and his father? He scowled in frustration.

Sabo glanced at Ace, finding a scowl on his face, he went back to staring elsewhere. Would Ace let this go, he thought. He had answered the man's question and he hoped they could just go home. Sabo shuffled on his feet.

"Let's go home, okay, Ace?" His words came out weak, not convincing anybody.

Why wasn't the blonde looking him in the eye? He was trying to distance himself by turning away. Ace knew the town was bad news, he knew Sabo was uncomfortable and that he should drop the subject until the man brought it up on his own. But the feeling of impatience and frustration was beginning to overflow. Ace didn't know why he was feeling the way he was and that only fuelled his vexation. He wanted to hurry, hurry and finally understand Sabo, help him and maybe just maybe he could…For some reason he needed to, he couldn't describe anything right now. Ace's own desperation baffled him.

Sabo hissed in discomfort as the hand gripped his arm harder. He slowly turned to look at Ace and when he did, he stepped away from the man, backing against a tree. This time, he didn't tear his gaze off Ace and stared, fidgeting. He took a deep breath.

"Ace?" he tested the man's reaction. Hands grabbed his collar of his dress shirt along with his coat and shoved him into the tree trunk.

"Ow…" The impact had Sabo's head spinning, his vision knocked out of balance temporarily.

"Don't…" It was inaudible and as Sabo's world stilled and balanced again he grabbed Ace's beaded necklace.

"What are you doing?!" he shouted in a spike of anger. He was pulled forward slightly, making him tiptoe on his feet for support.

"Sabo!"

The blonde flinched at the sudden raise of volume. He tried to peek under Ace's black hair to see what kind of expression the man was wearing and maybe it'd give him some sort of hint to what's gotten into him. He moved his to the side, Ace still unmoving.

"Don't," Ace said again in strained voice, "do think you think it's right to keep secrets from us?" He brought his head up and slammed Sabo back against the tree again.

Secrets? "Yeah I am keeping secrets from you." Sabo glared at the man, releasing the beaded necklace in his hand and pushed Ace further away from him. The hands that were clutching his collar shook. Sabo grabbed one of Ace's wrist. "Let go."

Ace should. He knew he should and though his muscles in his forearm was starting to become weary from all the force he exerted, he didn't.

"No."

Sabo narrowed his eyes, squeezing the man's wrist. "Let go." When he got no response this time, he let out a shaky breath before looking softly in plea. He bit the inside of his lip. "Please let go, Ace."

Ace shook his head. Sabo was putting effort into being calm, he needed a way to get Ace to listen to him for now and have this talk another day. Today wasn't a bad day, having early-dinner, or extreme late lunch with his brothers was pleasant. It wasn't the day, it was the people in Town Center that edged him. It was the way he acted precisely like the noble he was. Couldn't this have happened later?

A snarl of disapproval from Ace and he lost it.

"What's with you?" He brought his other hand to grab Ace's other wrist. "Why are you trying to get me to talk, you said that you'd wait. You said that you wouldn't pry into my problems! Didn't you?" The collar was making it difficult for him to yell. His tone was hoarse and filled with irritation. Sabo didn't notice the grip on his clothes loosened until Ace backed away. He gazed at the man sadly. "Why are you rushing me?"

Ace's face looked dejected—because everything Sabo said was true. With somewhat of a longing expression, he bowed his head and apologized, "Sorry, I wasn't thinking straight." He turned his back and began walking away.

Sabo watched the man disappear into the layers of greens and slumped down the tree. He gave the tree bark a hard punch, leaving a deep impression in the wood. He sighed. He blinked as Luffy came into his vision.

"Let's go home?" the boy said and Sabo nodded.

"Sorry was that scary?" He got up and Luffy led the way back home. Luffy shook his head. He would never think of his brothers, certainly not Ace, as scary.

"I don't like when you guys argue," he said and the blonde silently thanked his younger brother for being so precious. "I got you something for your birthday! It's at home. Shi, shi, shi, it'll be a surprise!" Luffy swung his legs merrily for the rest of the way home. He took Sabo's hand to make sure his older brother didn't go anywhere and get lost in the forest.

Sabo smiled and though he was still under the weather, he gratefully accepted Luffy's warm hand.

"Really? I can't wait to see it."

* * *

**A/N:** The first time I've updated/finished in the morning before class! Shits going down, sort of. I'm trying to write as much as I can before exams. You'll be right to expect another chapter this week and a one shot based on an Umetora song.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** Hey I was almost finished last night but couldn't and wrote the rest just now before my afternoon class. I'm going to be busy today until the end of Thursday (assignment, project and an exam on Wednesday) and I didn't want to keep you guys waiting until then. Enjoy!

* * *

Luffy released Sabo's hands, something sparkling on a tree bark caught his eye. He ran into the bushes and down the dry dirt trying to see what the object was close up.

"Wait, Luffy?" By the time he raised his head, the boy was already gone. He paced back and forth, contemplating whether he should leave his current position to find Luffy or wait for his brother here. He would be the one lost in the forest if Luffy forgot about him in favour of whatever cool object or animal he was looking for. Sabo rustled past a shrub, deciding to search for Luffy. If he got lost, he could always climb down the mountain and hope he reached Windmill Village. From there he could find Makino and get back safely.

"Luffy?" he called stretching out the boy's name. "Where are you?" He heard a twig snap to his left and turned, walking towards the sound. He drew closer. "Luffy?" he called again. He saw something blur as it took off only catching a glimpse of colours.

_Was that an animal just now?_

"Sabo!" The blonde jumped, startled at the loud voice behind him. He looked down at the happy boy who had his arm in front of him, showing Sabo the object in his hand. "Look what I found!"

Sabo bent down to look at the black shiny object. It was was a shell, a black shell. When thin lines of black suddenly squirmed, he leaned back in an abrupt movement. It was alive and those were definitely legs.

"It's a hercules beetle!" the boy shouted and snickered. "I gotta show Ace this next time. He'd be so amazed."

Sabo stood up as Luffy put the beetle down on the ground, holding his hand out.

"You two really love beetles," he said and Luffy took his hand. The younger brother pulled, continuing to lead the way home. "But that's amazing, I can't believe you found one in this forest, usually they'd be in hotter areas."

"Yeah! Shi, shi shi, I'm pretty amazing huh." Luffy met Sabo's eyes and they exchanged a smile.

"You really are." Sabo glanced one more time at the grinning boy, his attention already caught by another animal. He sighed. It was going to be a while until they got home with Luffy so easily distracted.

* * *

Ace hiked his way home, his thoughts running rampant in his mind. He didn't have to look where he was going, his legs bringing him home on their own. He screwed up bad this time and scratched his head. How was he going to apologize to Sabo when he'd done everything opposite of what he assured the man that first night out a week and a half ago? An image of a kind green haired woman popped into his mind. That's right, he could ask Makino. She was the who taught him manners in the first place—maybe she could give him advice.

As Ace was about to change destinations, he remembered another matter and kept moving in the direction of Dadan's house. He scouted for his brothers' presence and when he didn't sense them around, he went into the house. Inside, he was met with a raging Dadan.

"Ace! Do something about your Den Den Mushi! It's been ringing non-stop ever since you left!" Dadan stomped over, yelling in Ace's face. Her face was boiling red.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get it. I'm surprised you didn't toss it out if was bothering you that much," Ace said, surprised.

"I would if I could!" Dadan huffed and went past him, out the doorway.

Ace stared at the living room walls. "Hey Dadan, where's the Den Den Mushi?"

A tic formed on the woman's forehead as she whipped her head backwards. "I don't know you damn brat! If I did I would've chucked that stupid thing!" she yelled and slammed the door shut.

Ace breathed out and began to search for the snail. He checked Luffy's room first, the bathroom then he came to the living room again. Where was that damn snail? He blankly gazed at a wooden wall.

_Puru puru puru…puru puru puru_

Ace blinked, stepping into a random direction of the house to check where the ringing was coming from. The snail continued to ring and he plopped down onto the floor, having no idea where he'd last left it. The ringing got louder and he looked at the floorboards. Oh, he had completely forgotten. Ace put his ear against the floor, trying to find where the sound was loudest and broke a floorboard with a hand. He reached his hand in, feeling the hard earth. Without looking, he dug into the dirt until he felt the Den Den Mushi's shell. He pulled the snail out, taking a moment to watch it ring.

The Den Den Mushi's ringing ended. He got to his feet and quickly strode past the doorway, needing privacy. He didn't want to bump into his brothers—he still didn't know how to apologize to Sabo—and this was a call he had to pick up undisturbed. Ace wandered down the mountain, taking the route to Windmill Village.

_Puru puru…Clank._

He picked up the receiver, putting it to an ear. "Hey, about time you called." Ace heard some static before a man's voice spoke.

"Yeah, it's been…busy."

"So? Did you call to tell me to hurry my ass back to the ship?" He'd been expecting a call from his crew since his vacation was almost over.

A sigh. "No, I called to to tell you your vacation is being extended for another week, yoi."

Ace frowned, smacking away low-hanging tree branches. He glared at the clearing ahead, walking into the stream, not caring if his boots got wet.

"Thatch still hasn't woken up has he." It wasn't a question. The other end of the line went silent. Ace grit his teeth. "That son of a…" He pounded a fist into a nearby tree, snapping the trunk. The tree crashed to the floor, birds flying out.

"Ace, don't…just," another sigh and not a word more was said.

* * *

As soon as the two brothers arrived home, Luffy dashed into the house. He picked up an object and shoved it at Sabo.

"Your telescope! Happy late birthday Sabo!" the boy cheered.

The man smiled and pat his brother's head, Luffy leaning into the affectionate touch. "Thank you, Luffy." Sabo held the telescope, pulling the ends to extend it to its full length. He rested it on an eye, looking through it.

"Ace found it but it was my idea!"

Sabo lowered the telescope, and replied, "Is that so?" Luffy nodded, grinning widely as always. "Then I'll thank him later too." He noticed the boy was staring at him with wide eyes to match his lips. He was bouncing up and down.

"Sabo will you teach me to ride the bicycle now?" Luffy pointed at the somewhat wrecked bicycle, Dadan must have set aside. Sabo compressed the telescope and slipped it into his coat pocket. He went up to Luffy's room, grabbing his hat and set it on his head.

"Okay, let's go to Windmill Village though. It's too dangerous to ride a bicycle in the forest. The grounds are uneven."

Luffy beamed. "Yes! Let's gooo." He carried the bicycle under his arm, following Sabo out.

"Do you want me to carry that?" Sabo offered. To that, Luffy shook his head.

"My bike," he stated and pulled the bicycle closer to him. Sabo chuckled at his brother's possessive behaviour.

* * *

Ace could hear the ocean waves by the harbour as he strolled along the streets. He passed the flapping doors to Makino's bar, the woman lifting her head.

"Welcome, Ace," she greeted, wiping the counter with a rag.

"Hi," he said and took a seat across from where Makino was.

"What would you like?"

He placed his forearms on the counter, hands clasped together. "Just water." And the woman blinked at him. She thought it was strange that Ace had come alone and stranger that he wasn't ordering any food or alcohol.

"Okay," she said and went to pour a glass of water for him. The man mumbled his thanks and Makino continued to wash cups in the sink behind the counter. The sounds of clanking cups, squeaking glasses and running tap water filled the empty room. It was too early for mobs of customers to come in for a night drink. "So," Makino dried her hands, "what's wrong?"

Ace gaped at her and she laughed in her palm. "How did you know?"

Makino smiled. "I've known you for a long time, of course I would know." Ace laughed in embarrassment, scratching his cheek.

"Well, I wanted to ask you how to apologize to someone."

"Oh my, what did you do?" Makino asked.

"I pressured someone into talking and got angry at them." Ace swept his thumb, catching the droplets of water dripping down the side of his glass.

The woman smiled again. She leaned on the counter, a hand supporting her cheek, tilting her head. "Okay, I'll teach you how to properly apologize to that person."

Ace cracked a slight grin. "Thanks and sorry for the trouble…" Makino shook her head.

"If you're truly sorry, they'll accept your apology."

_Puru puru puru…puru puru…_

Ace turned his attention to his Den Den Mushi he set on the table. He got up, taking the snail with him. "I need to take this. Save my seat," he said and added, "please."

"Very good." With a wave from the woman, Ace left the bar. Makino huffed. "They grow up so fast," she mused.

* * *

The two finally reached Windmill Village and Sabo led Luffy to an open area.

"You sit here," he pat on the seat, "put your hands here," the handle, "and your feet on the two peddles on the side of the bike."

Luffy did as instructed and sat on the bicycle seat, his feet and hands on the peddles and handles. He pushed a leg down hard on the raised pedal and jerked forward, moving a couple feet before falling off the bike.

"Luffy!" Sabo helped the boy up, dusting the dirt off his knees. "I wasn't done explaining. You have to learn to balance on the bike first." Luffy jumped onto the bike again, seeming to be unable to hear his older brother's words. Sabo sighed. He held the bicycle as Luffy pedalled, guiding him, careful he didn't fall and learned step by step.

After a while, the two took a break and headed for Makino's bar. Luffy pushed his bike as they walked, enjoying how fun it was to ride one. When they got to the bar, Sabo had to convince the boy to leave his bicycle outside the shop. Luffy pouted because he couldn't bring it into the bar with him but the juice was more important.

He ran into the shop, hopping on a seat and greeted Makino. The woman smiled at him, asking him what he'd like to drink.

"Orange juice!"

Something caught the corner of Sabo's eye, making him step backwards, sticking his head out the doorway. Was that Ace? He squinted.

"I'll be right back, Luffy," he said and chased after who he thought was Ace. He followed the man. Sabo wanted to let his brother know he wasn't angry at him. This wasn't an argument. He saw him turn into a smaller street and picked up his pace.

"What is it?"

He heard Ace's voice and instinctively stopped and took a step back, hiding in the shadows of a store. He was talking to someone.

"Sorry, I forgot to ask you."

"How rare that you forget anything, Marco," Ace said, sauntering down the streets.

"Have you thought about it, Ace?"

Ace stopped in his tracks and paused before answering, "I have."

Sabo couldn't hear who Ace was talking but he didn't want to get too close and get caught. He was curious what the other man was up to.

"It's not just me, yoi, all of us want you to. It's what's best for you right now."

"I will…" Ace started. Marco waited for him to continue. He took a deep, steady breath. "Marco, I'm going to bring Luffy with me."

Take Luffy with him? Where? Sabo shifted on his feet, maybe this wasn't what he's meant to hear and quickly returned to Makino's bar.

A breath of relief. "That's great, yoi. Everyone was worried especially since you flew into rage when Thatch…Most of us Commanders had to restrain you from going after Teach."

"If you have time to be worried, you should worry about the guys on the ship. The feeling of being betrayed isn't something anyone can get over," Ace said quietly and found a tree trunk to lean on.

Marco shook his head though the other man couldn't see it. "Well, I'll call you again later after your week is up." With the goodbyes said, they hung up. Marco ran a hand through his bright blonde hair and sighed, walking down the corridors of Moby Dick.

Leaning against a wall ahead of him was Izou. "How did it go?" the man asked. His usual kept, neat hairstyle had strands sticking out here and there.

Marco could see black circles under his eyes and that was normal for the rest of crew. The Commanders and Teach's fellow division crew-mates were the ones who got hit the hardest.

"He's going to bring his younger brother when he gets back, yoi." He gave a lop sided smile.

Izou pushed himself off the wall and smiled. "That's good to hear. This is a time where he needs someone by his side."

Marco agreed. When Ace found out about Thatch, he flew into a fit of rage yelling how he was going to take responsibility and kill that son of a traitor. Whitebeard prohibited anyone to go after Teach and of course the kid didn't listen. The Commanders would always catch him trying to sneak off the ship, dragging him and locking him in together with Whitebeard. He wouldn't do anything funny with Oyaji around after all.

"I hope that brother of his cheers him up…" Izou mumbled and turned. He yawned, giving Marco a slight wave and a good night.

What a mess. With the crew's morale plummeted and never-ending enemies that had to be fought, Marco wasn't sure how long they would last mentally.

* * *

Sabo sighed, not even bothering to push the flapping doors with his hand and passed through. He took a seat beside Luffy who was drinking what he vaguely heard Makino say was his fourth cup. He asked for water, missing the strange look from the woman.

"Ace!" Luffy shouted and Sabo tensed.

Ace glanced at the blonde and looked at Luffy. "Hey," he waved, "what're you guys doing here?" He moved to sit in his seat, drinking his glass of water. He turned to his younger brother.

"Sabo was teaching me how to ride the bicycle! I think I can do it without his help now." Luffy snickered.

Ace hummed. "Really? Show me next time, then I'll believe you."

"I wouldn't lie. Hmph sure, I'll show you my true skills later!" Luffy crossed his arms, pouting.

Other than Luffy chatting up his two older brothers, Ace and Sabo didn't directly speak to the other. They were sitting along the counter with Luffy in between them but it wasn't Ace's fault. This was originally his seat and Luffy just happened to take the one beside him.

Makino noticed, it was obvious with the way Sabo was intently staring into his water and Ace gazing at the wall to his right. She'd been watching the pair of brothers every time they came to drink. If she compared this unusual silence hanging in the air and the fact Ace was asking for advice, something was not right. Makino guessed the one Ace wanted to apologize to was Sabo. She chuckled, he was already doing it all wrong by avoiding to look in Sabo's direction.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N**: Shorter chapter than the past few. I knew I shouldn't have taken four courses this semester. I can't wait until the third week of August when I'll have a two week break before fall semester starts haha. I've also been distracted by Treasure Cruise. Aside from my usual ramblings, enjoy the chapter.

* * *

The two older brothers didn't speak a word to one another for the entire evening spent in the bar. Luffy commented from time on their sluggishness and put it off as them being weird. The three began to walk home together making it a couple blocks when Ace spoke.

"Uh, you guys go ahead without me," Ace said.

Luffy chirped an okay, leaving Sabo to—for the first time after what felt like the longest hours—bring his eyes up from the ground. The man waited for his response that he'd been heard and Sabo looked at Ace.

"Okay, see you at home later." Everything was still, the dark sky, the hovering clouds above and the chilly winds of the night. It was quiet. He waved and smiled.

"Yeah, see you," Ace said, waving a hand and returning a faint smile. Sabo's blue eyes twinkled and he turned around before his smile stretched wider across his face. Luffy jumped up and down, waving with his arms while walking backwards. Ace gave his younger brother another wave and strolled down the streets.

"Hey Luffy," Sabo started, his head tilted up to watch the sky and the few bright light of the stars as he trekked up the mountain path. Luffy tugged his hand, letting him know they were changing directions.

"What?" The younger pushed the shrubs in his way, swishing his head left to right, on the guard of any dangerous night creatures. He heard a chuckle and looked up at Sabo. The man brought his right hand—his free hand that wasn't being led by Luffy—to cover his eyes. The boy couldn't see Sabo's expression.

"I'm glad…" A strained whisper. His lips trembled, he had difficulties in deciding what he wanted to say, how he wanted to express it. "I'm really glad you guys are here. I'm glad I met you guys." He gazed down at Luffy, meeting his eyes. Sabo broke into an awkward smile. Luffy blinked, noticing the glassy look in his older brother's eyes.

"Yeah!" He grinned at the man and Sabo squeezed his hand lightly.

I'm lucky, Sabo thought and exhaled, the smile never leaving his face. It was nice being here with Luffy and Ace. Even after yelling at each other a few hours back, Ace wasn't angry and he wasn't avoiding him. The smile he gave was proof. That in itself made warmth spread throughout Sabo. He swung his arm, Luffy's arm being forced into the motion.

Luffy startled when the man beside him started swinging their linked hands back and forth. He grinned, thinking it was fun and swung his arm in time with Sabo. It seemed Sabo didn't realize what he was doing until Luffy joined in and he laughed.

"Shi, shi shi, why are you laughing, Sabo?" the boy asked. Sabo closed his eyes and hummed in contemplation. He glanced at Luffy and grinned.

"I don't know but I'm just happy," he answered, pulling the brim of his top hat down slightly to hide his childish expression.

"Pft." Luffy's lips curled and he declared, "Sabo's weird!" He burst out into laughter and it rubbed off on Sabo, the man laughing again.

"Ah! Sabo you're all pink or is it red…" Luffy shouted after he'd caught the colour from the corner of his eye.

"Blood looks red under the light and it's actually blood rushing to a person's cheeks when they laugh too much so it would make sense to say red. Though really, there's no correct answer, just say whichever colour you see." Sabo looked down at the scrunched up face of the boy. "What?"

Luffy groaned, his eyebrows drooping. "I don't get it." Three paces later, he lit up and said, "Oh! Sabo's pink because you look pink." He snickered at his own intellect. Sabo rolled his eyes upwards and scratched his cheek.

"Um, yeah, something like that…" he trailed off and stopped. Luffy turned his head as he watched Sabo crouch down in front of him. He inclined his head, confused at what his older brother was doing. "You're pink too, and sweaty."

Sabo pulled out a handkerchief from his coat pocket and wiped Luffy's face. The way the boy's plump cheeks were so elastic as he rubbed the sweat off them was adorable and the way Luffy was making funny muffled noises as he was doing so was endearing. He noticed Luffy lean into the cloth despite being taken aback by his sudden actions.

With a last swipe over the boy's forehead, pushing his black bangs back, Sabo put away the cloth. He was met with a grinning Luffy.

"Sabo's nice!" Luffy beamed and before Sabo could reply or stand up, a rubber arm coiled itself on his left arm until a hand held his again.

Sabo blinked and when he looked at his arm to Luffy's face, he laughed. "Thank you. Now, let's get home before it gets darker." Luffy nodded, giggling. Sabo smiled at the display of his brother's affections.

* * *

"Makinooo," Ace called inside the bar. He heard a clatter behind the counter and leaned over.

"Oh, Ace, just give me second to tidy up first," Makino said and placed empty bottles into a trash bag. She'd closed the bar earlier tonight not just for Ace's sake but because there were few customers tonight. While she was cleaning, she could see the man sitting on a counter seat staring off into the distance.

Once Makino was done, she turned off the lights and stepped outside, waiting for Ace to follow. Ace walked through the flapping doors and stayed silent as the woman locked the shop from the inside.

"This way," Ace said, jerking a thumb. The two walked along the docking area side by side. Ace sat down on a tree stump.

"Ace, what was that?" Makino took a seat nearby on a grassy patch. Her tone sounded like she was ready to give him a good scolding. She huffed. "I'm sure I've taught you better."

Ace snorted. "You never taught me how to apologize," he retorted, resting an ankle on his other knee, turning away from Makino.

The woman laughed out loud. "That's not a very good excuse. You never change do you," she said quietly, holding her knees with both her arms. Ace's lips curved upwards.

"Yeah…you too." It was small, almost inaudible but it reached Makino's ears. A comfortable blanket of silence fell between them and neither minded. The woman knew that even without her help, Ace would be able to apologize to Sabo on his own—he was a good guy.

"Makino, I…"

* * *

Sabo roused by the sound of squeaking ladder rungs. He rolled over onto his side and reluctantly pried his eyes open. He saw skin and a red beaded necklace.

"Ace…?" He heard a laugh.

"Go back to sleep," Ace said softly.

"I will…" Sabo snuggled into the thin sheets. "Did you finish talking with Makino?" He blinked his tired eyes in an attempt to at least open them halfway.

"Yeah, I did. How'd you know?" Ace sat down, the floorboards creaking.

"It's sort of obvious," Sabo said, finally succeeding in fully opening his heavy eyelids.

Was it that obvious, Ace thought and words flew out of his mouth unconsciously, "Sorry."

"Huh?" Sabo lifted his head from the floor. He was about to get up when Ace gestured him to stay.

"I'm sorry about today. The thing with the ramen and in the forest on our way back, sorry for hurting you." Ace's eyes were hard with a hint of softness in them. He bit the inside of his cheek at the last one, remembering how rough he'd been slamming him against a tree. Sabo shook his head against the wood and grasped the man's wrist.

"No, I'm the one who's sorry. I wasn't honest with you guys…"

"You have nothing to apologize for. It's normal to have secrets, I have them too. Keeping something a secret means you're trying to protect yourself from getting hurt," Ace whispered. Sabo snickered into the sheets.

"You sound like you're saying something smart again and it's weird."

"Look here, I'm being serio…"

"You're probably right," he cut Ace off, giving the man's wrist a squeeze. His eyebrows furrowed, a flicker of an unknown emotion flashed across his eyes. He could feel Ace's gaze on him. Sabo stared in the other's eyes. "I won't keep a secret if it hurts you."

Ace mentally gaped at his brother's firm words and his back straightened. His eyes, his tone, his hand grabbing his wrist, everything told him Sabo meant them. How could he not believe him? Ace bowed his head and grit his teeth.

"Sorry…" It came out forced and breathless. Sabo moved his hand down from Ace's wrist to hold the other's hand. He felt the man's fingers glide between his, returning a squeeze.

"Yeah," he said just as breathless and drifted into a deep sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N**: Sorry, this week has been busy and I couldn't bring myself to write this being distracted by other things.

* * *

Morning arrived, the sunlight pouring into the room the three brothers lay asleep. Sabo was conscious but still not aware of his surroundings, hearing the crows caw. Feeling the warmth of the sun on his skin woke him and the fuzzy feeling in his hand made him open his eyes. He saw a body in front of him and angled his head to see who it was. It was Ace. Sabo quietly observed the man's facial characteristics, watched him breathe.

When Ace's eyes fluttered open albeit lazily, he noticed Sabo was watching him. He yawned, tears welling in his eyes.

"Good morning," he said. Sabo blinked, realizing Ace was awake and talking to him. He gave a smile.

"Good morning."

Maybe it was because the sun was shining from behind Sabo, but his smile seemed brighter than usual. Maybe it was the same as always, Ace couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was.

_It's like he's sparkling. _

They stared at one another for awhile, letting the morning grogginess settle. Neither appeared to really want to get didn't hear a small yawn nearby and Ace was starting feel his eyelids grow heavier. Was is possible for his narcolepsy to hit him right after he'd woken up? Just as he was about to give in to sleep, he heard a shout.

"Ah! Why are you guys holding hands like that and leaving me out?!" It was Luffy. Ace's eyes snapped wide, darting to where his hand was. He looked to Sabo, catching him look at their connected hands and the man looked back at Ace.

"Uh…" Ace uttered.

"I think it was last night when you apologized," Sabo said. He chuckled and Ace felt something was off again. His musings were interrupted by a force, his knuckles rubbing on the floorboard.

"I wanna join in too!" Luffy shouted with glee, slapping his hand on top of Sabo's. He swung his legs back and forth happily. Ace sighed.

"We weren't playing a game, Luffy."

"Who cares? We are now, shi shi shi." Luffy giggled. Sabo used his free hand and ruffled the boy's hair. He smiled, moving his hand so he held both Ace's and Luffy's hand.

"A hand-holding game right?" He laughed.

Luffy beamed, nodding furiously at his brother. "Sabo gets it!" The space between Ace's eyebrows wrinkled.

"I don't get how that's a game," he said. Sabo and Luffy glanced at each other. Luffy shook his head.

"Ace doesn't get it." He faced Sabo and together they said, "Right?" and giggled. Ace squinted, what was he missing?

"What did you talk to Makino about yesterday?" Luffy asked once the two were down with their giggling fit.

"Wow, was it that obvious even you knew?" With a nod from his younger brother, he hummed. "Asking for advice, I guess? What?"

Luffy gave him a face, his bottom lip curling outwards. "Really? Are you suuure because I thought you asked her to marry you."

"What?!" Ace yelled.

"Huh, really?" Sabo blinked rapidly. "You two were in that kind of…?"

"No!"

"Yeah he was!"

"Stop lying Luffy, I said it isn't like that with her!" His cheeks were tinting in red, Sabo observed.

"I'm not lying!" the younger retorted.

"Is there a story behind this?" Sabo asked, eliciting another giggle from Luffy. The boy raised his free hand that wasn't being held by Sabo's.

"Ace's first love was Makino!" he announced. Ace untangled his hand from his brothers and squished Luffy's cheeks together.

"She was _not_ my first love!" He huffed, crossing his arms across his chest, finally getting up. Sabo and Luffy stayed sprawled on the ground, under their covers.

"It's that you know. She's important to me but I don't like her that way," Ace tried explaining.

"A platonic relationship?" Sabo suggested. It sounded like the answer if Ace wasn't romantically interested in Makino. There a few occasions where young women would do a double-take when Ace walked by them in Edge Town, yet the man didn't even seem to pay any attention to them. The women were decent looking and Ace was handsome but there was this gut feeling Sabo had that Ace just wasn't the type to be interested in romance.

"Yeah," Ace answered and Sabo raised an eyebrow.

"You don't know what that means."

"Ahaha, no I don't."

Sabo breathed out, snickering.

_How nice…To be loved like that._

* * *

Eventually, the brothers had to get out of the room and start their days. Dandan was complaining that there was no breakfast made, making Sabo hurry to the kitchen. There wasn't anything Ace had planned to do for the rest of the day, deciding to hang with Luffy. On his way out, Sabo called after him.

"I heard from Luffy you found the telescope," he said. It took a few seconds for Ace to register what Sabo was talking about.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Thanks." Sabo smiled and Ace shrugged.

"Glad you liked it, see you at dinner time." Ace waved before running after Luffy.

* * *

The two brothers were searching the shrubs and tall grass for the hercules beetle Luffy spotted yesterday.

"It was somewhere here…" Luffy mumbled, plucking the grass and checking the soil underneath. Ants crawled out and tosses the straw of grass behind him, sighing. Ace was crouching, his mind elsewhere.

"Hey, Luffy…"

"Yeah? Wait, this rock looks familiar, maybe it was here…" Luffy scrambled to another patch of land.

"I'm leaving in less than a week," Ace said, glancing over to his younger brother who stopped his movements. He felt a tug on his shirt and saw Luffy clutching on him when he looked down.

"You're going already?…" Luffy rubbed his face into the fabric. Ace frowned, bringing a hand to stroke the boy's head.

"Yeah…But there's something," he let the pause hang there. What if Luffy refused and said he wanted to stay here instead? Ace knew his brother. He wanted to sail out on the seas on his own when he could, be his own captain, have his own crew. Asking him to step foot on another captain's ship—a ship that wasn't under his command—was going to be difficult.

Luffy peered up from his shirt. "What?" Ace stopped stroking his head, dropping his hand to his side.

"No, I'll ask you later tonight." With that said, the two brothers went back to searching for the beetle. Luffy glanced over his shoulder, at his brother, thinking Ace was acting strange. He clearly had something he wanted to say, now and the time at Gray Terminal. Whatever it was, he'd find out tonight and shrugged the thought off—but to be honest he was excited, he'd get to know what had Ace so listless these past couple days.

* * *

The day was coming to an end, uneventful, Sabo helping Luffy ride his bike, eating dinner, and chatting as usual. Ace was fine with it, after all, wasn't being on a vacation like this? He was grateful for the break and at the same time bitter about it. Here where was raised, he was plain brat up to no good in the area or a nice guy depending who answered. No troublesome marines chasing him, no idiot bounty hunters who genuinely thought they could beat him. Though there was a bitter aftertaste with the reason he was sent away from Moby Dick.

_Teach…I swear I'll…_

"Ace? Are you gonna come up?" Sabo called from Luffy's room. Ace looked up, rubbing his neck.

"Right, yeah, coming now." He climbed up, stepping rung by rung. When he sat on the floor, he saw Luffy hugging a pillow, bouncing on spot.

"Tell me a bed time story, Sabo!" Luffy said, tucking himself under the sheets.

"Okay, how about a story about the one about people living in the sky? I've read about it in books." With an excited nod from Luffy, Sabo began to tell the tale of floating islands in the sky and the people who live on them. Ace smiled, leaning against the wall and closed his eyes, listening along. Sabo explained in much enthusiasm how the people living in the skies had wings, how their lands floated on clouds and how the clouds were like the ocean waters. Ace and Luffy sensed their brother was about to fall asleep by the nodding of his head and quietening speech.

"…then the god of….destroyed…" Sabo nodded, his words fading and scattered. He collapsed onto his side. Luffy sniggered, covering his mouth with his hands.

"Sabo fell asleep!"

"Looks like it," Ace whispered. "That's it for today, sleep now, Luffy." Luffy whined, putting on a bummed out face. Ace ignored his younger brother's protests. He swept Sabo's locks away from his face and smiled.

_Sky Island exists and you'll probably discover it on your journey…_

"Ace, you touch Sabo a lot huh," Luffy said. Ace looked at him.

"Really?"

"Yeah." Luffy nodded.

"Didn't know that," Ace muttered.

"Fine, I'll go sleep." He stretched his his arms wide. "But give me a good night kiss!" he demanded. Ace froze.

"What?!" he shouted. Luffy immediately hushed him, placing a finger in front of his lips. Ace glanced at Sabo's sleeping figure then back to Luffy.

"Makino said kisses prove to people that you love them!" Luffy chirped.

"Makino huh…"

"Yeah! So give me one!" Luffy insisted, flapping his arms. Ace's eyes wandered off to the side.

"Don't wanna. Why do you want one now?" he sputtered, rubbing his neck. He heard shuffling noises, and raised his head.

"Because," Luffy scooted closer on his hands, "you'll be gone soon…"

"About that, Luffy I need to ask you something." Luffy tilted his head.

"What?"

Ace took a deep breath. "Will you come with me to Whitebeard's ship?


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N**: Sorry for the delay of this chapter, it was really hot this week and that demotivated me quite a bit as I'm bad with heat. Enjoy the chapter!

Someone asked when the romance would begin and that is a difficult for me to answer. To make it easier for you to imagine, it's like when you like someone and you don't really realize it. You do know you care about them and they're important but for it to be interpreted as love, it's quite a leap. Also, for what I've planned for this story so far, the romance isn't in your face. It's subtle and probably feels more slashy than actual romance. Hope this clears things up!

* * *

"No."

"That's what I thought…" Ace rubbed his neck and looked to the side. "You wouldn't want to on some other pirate's ship when you want to be captain…" Well, he expected this from Luffy. It wasn't in his character to obey someone or be on someone else's ship.

"What pirate ship?" Luffy asked, blinking at him.

"Huh, Whitebeard's ship. I just said didn't I?" Luffy over-tilted his head, his head almost touching the ground.

"Who's that?" He sprung back to sit perpendicular with the floor, his hand tracing his chin.

"My captain…I told you that before too you know…." Ace sighed, running a hand through his hair. "It's, you know, I want to take you with me."

"Why?" Luffy blinked his round eyes, mouth in a thin line. Ace had troubles thinking of excuses on the spot. He was sure Luffy would outright decline—which he did—but it seemed like there was a spark of hope if he was asking.

"If you stay here, the next time Gramps comes, he'll drag you to join the Marines," he said.

"Really?!" Luffy shouted in a whisper, sweat beading his forehead. Ace was bad at this, he couldn't lie to Luffy.

"No, that was a lie."

"What?!"

"Will you come with me?" Ace asked again. Luffy stared at him and folded his arms.

"Will there be meat?" Ace lit up, back straightening.

"Yeah." There was a pause. He deflated, was Luffy going to refuse after all?

"Does Ace want me to go?" Luffy's stare was unmoving and Ace felt there was no reason to lie here.

"I want you to come," Ace stated, his voice resolute. Luffy grinned.

"Then, I'll go."

"Really?" Ace broke into a bright smile. Luffy nodded, very sure.

"But I'm not listening to those guys on the ship." Ace laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, that's good, you don't have to listen to them." The younger snickered and latched onto Ace, in which the older returned as an embrace.

"And you have to train me!" Luffy was giddy, he didn't have to apart from Ace!

"Yeah, sure, if you can keep up that is."

"I can and I will." Luffy pretended to pout, which made both brothers burst into laughter.

* * *

Sabo shut his eyes, clutching the covers wrapped around him. He heard, he heard the words he didn't want to hear. He awoke to a sunny morning, finding himself alone in the room. Sabo found it odd his two brothers were no where in sight and went downstairs. No one was here, not even the bandits, not Dogra, not Dadan, no Ace and Luffy. Was there something going on today?

The floorboards squeaked as he stepped on them, creeping towards the door. Sabo pushed the door open with caution.

"Ace? Luffy?" he called. The rustling of a nearby bush startled him and he froze. The bush rustled more and Sabo stood still, peeking past the slightly open door. When he saw a person emerge from the bushes, he exhaled in relief and stepped out the door.

"Dadan," Sabo said and the woman faced him. She was holding a basket full of mushroom and greens in her hand.

"Brat, you didn't make breakfast today so we all had to go into the forest and pick fruits and mushrooms. We got your share too." Dadan noticed the peculiar expression the man wore and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing, thanks for getting my share too…" Sabo fidgeted, pulling on his gloves. The unusual quietness of the forest was unsettling. "Um…" His gaze wandered around and Dadan was close to telling him off, but Sabo was faster. "Where's Ace and Luffy?" He wasn't sure why he was hesitant in asking—it was normal for the brothers to be gone for the whole day and be back by dinner. What was this feeling?

Dadan scratched her head, "They left already." Sabo could feel something in him sink.

"Where…did they go?" he asked.

"Back to, what was his name, Whitebeard's ship?" Dadan gave Sabo a look. "I thought Ace told…" She dropped the basket and clapped her hands over her mouth. "Was I not supposed to let you know," she said aloud to herself.

Sabo blinked slowly, processing Dadan's words. He looked down at the ground, at his boots. Ace and Luffy were gone? They left. He grasped at his shirt, hearing only his accelerating breaths and heartbeat drum in his ears.

_Am I alone? _

_I'm alone now. They left, they're gone. _

_They're not here. _

The ground grew closer to him, or was it Sabo that was growing closer to the ground, he couldn't tell. Everything was fuzzy and it couldn't have been due to the lack of oxygen—he was breathing, he could hear it.

"Right, there was a man looking for you," Dadan said. Sabo wasn't paying attention, stressed by Ace's decision to leave without saying a word. Why would the man do that? He stumbled backwards, his back hitting the door behind him. Sabo leaned on it, his body too heavy for him to hold up. Was it because….

A man wearing a black top hat with a golden feather pin on it amble beside Dadan. He tipped his top hat, revealing dark eyes.

"Sabo, I've been searching for you." The man smiled, walking towards Sabo, opening his arms.

_Father…_

Sabo narrowed his eyes at Outlook, his fingers digging into the door. That fake smile. He felt a twinge in his head and he brought a hand to support it. He couldn't go home, he wouldn't let his father drag him into that household again. He turned, stumbling away from Outlook before a hand grabbed his shoulder. Sabo shot a glare at his father.

"Now, now Sabo, do not look at your father like that," the man said, still eerily smiling. Sabo panted, his heart quickening, sweat beginning to form and drip down his face.

Did Ace and Luffy leave him because…

"Sabo," his father's voice deeply echoed in his ears. Sabo looked at his father's face carefully for the first time since Outlook got here. His eyes widened.

_Is it because I'm a noble?_

He grit his teeth and yanked away from his father's arm. Sabo took off, staggering into the forest. He wasn't like him, he wasn't like his parents or like his adopted brother. He was different from the nobles in High Town who thought they were the privileged and those who weren't of nobility were disposable trash that needed to be cleaned up. Nobles who didn't bat an eye when Gray Terminal was set ablaze. Sabo's family couldn't see it, rather they didn't see a problem in how they did things. He squeezed his eyes shut, blindly running through the thicket, jutting branches grazing his cheek. There was something wrong with all of them.

Sabo's legs gave out on him and he tripped into a stream. He got up on his hands and knees, staring into the clear running water. He watched the water in his hair drip into the stream listlessly. He saw his reflection and slammed a palm in it, distorting it. The ripples were washed away by the stream and he huffed, sitting back on his heels. It wouldn't change, the fact that he was born a noble would never, could never be changed. Sabo looked at the sky for awhile and it seemed to grow darker. He shivered as a chill ran throughout his body.

He turned to the direction he came from. That's right, he had to leave now. His father had found him and there was no way he was going back. He picked himself up, treading through the water. Sabo had to set sail now—it was now or never. A small boat would be easy to find in Gray Terminal. As he moved, he thought and thought. Could he leave the island, could he really do that now when he couldn't before?

All of a sudden the area was pitch black. Sabo looked left, right, up and down. He couldn't see anything. He looked down again at where his feet should be and panic struck him when he couldn't see what he was standing on. He hunched over, clutching at his chest as he wheezed.

_I'm scared. _

Sabo's eyes snapped open, darting left to right until they laid on Ace in front of him. He relaxed, fatigue hitting him.

"Sabo!" the man yelled and he winced at the volume. Sabo limply pushed Ace's face back, turning onto his side, snuggling the sheets.

"What is it, you're so loud…" he mumbled.

"What you say, you were moaning and tossing and turning in your sleep!" Ace shook him by his shoulders. "You okay?"

"What do you mean?" Sabo glanced at Ace, finding a desperate expression scrunch the man's face. His eyes widened and he touched the spot below his eye. It was wet. Images flitted through his mind and he remembered the situation he was in. Sabo shoved Ace, his other hand now pushing the man's face back with more force.

"What're you doing?" came a muffled question. Sabo shook his head, shutting his eyes. This was a dream. It didn't make sense—Ace left with Luffy already.

"Hey, Sab—" Ace's words were cut off by an elbow knocking his chin upwards. He tried to stop Sabo by grabbing his arms but he fended his attempts off by flinging his arms in random directions.

"I got the water Ace!" Luffy said, carrying a bucket filled with water. Ace turned to his younger brother.

"Dump it on him," Ace struggled to say, as the man underneath him thrashed about. Luffy pattered next to Sabo's head and dumped the water onto his face. Sabo stopped his frenzy movements and stilled, gasping and coughing. The two brothers watched him, waiting for Sabo to come to his senses. The water soaked Sabo's hair and his face was drenched. It was cold. He tensed. He was in the stream, that was right, he had to get off the island soon or his father would catch up and he would end up in that detestable household again.

Just when Ace and Luffy thought Sabo was fine, the man started panting. They shared a worried glance.

"Sabo?" Luffy tried. The interval in each breath Sabo took was shortening. "Ace, this doesn't look good…" He hugged the empty bucket tightly.

"I can see that!" Ace bit the inside of his lip, brows furrowing. He stared at the shaking figure of his brother. "Doesn't this seem like he's hyper.."

"Ventilating?" Luffy finished.

"Yeah, that…" What did people do when others were hyperventilating? Ace scratched his head with both hands in exasperation. He heard Sabo groan and he let his hands fall to his side. It definitely looked like he was hyperventilating and it made Ace feel useless. Sabo was grasping at his chest—his shirt—tossing his head left and right with a pained expression, breathing harshly.

Sabo couldn't breathe, was he drowning in the stream, was he going to suffocate to death? He pulled on his shirt, feeling his chest was being constricted with not enough oxygen. He kept taking in short puffs of breaths that felt like they weren't nearly enough.

Ace couldn't stand seeing Sabo like this and he could see Luffy couldn't either, though they both hadn't a clue of what to do. He bent down, his hair tickling the man below him. He cupped Sabo's face and whispered, "Sabo…" Ace frowned deeper. He noticed Sabo's body jerk.

"Sabo…" Luffy whined, hoping whatever Ace was doing would help.

"Sabo," Ace said again, stilling his brother's head in his palms so Sabo would look at him. Sabo's eyes were darting frantically again and his pupils were dilated. Ace watched Sabo's face a little more and leaned down further until their noses touched and his forehead thumped against Sabo's. He breathed, closing his eyes.

"Wha..who?" Sabo's vision began to clear, the fuzzy, lightheadedness dissipating.

"Sabo, calm down…" Ace chanted Sabo's name over and over, telling him to calm down because that was the only thing he could do. "You're breathing too much, breathe slower."

It caught Sabo's attention and the man stopped struggling, looking at Ace. He held his breath, exhaling after some ten or so beats. Ace realized this and opened his eyes, hopeful whatever was plaguing his brother was gone. Sabo was staring at him, slowly making his way to fix on Ace's eyes. His breathing was rough but better than earlier.

"Sabo," Ace murmured, "what's my name?" They stare at one another, Sabo's breaths filling the room. Built up tears in his eyes fell as he blinked. His lips trembled.

"Ace…" he whispered. Luffy brightened up. So Sabo was fine now! He glanced from Ace to Sabo, back and forth. What did Ace do? A mysterious treatment, he concluded, nodding to himself and grinned. Ace chuckled.

"You're fine now huh?" he said. As he pulled away from Sabo, the other clung onto him. "Sabo?" Sabo had both his arms wrapped around under Ace's arms, his face buried in the man's neck.

"You're here…" Sabo mumbled. Ace blinked.

"I am," he answered. He motioned Luffy to sit beside them and the younger did. He poked Sabo's cheek and giggled. Ace felt the upturn of Sabo's mouth on his neck and smiled. He brought a hand and stroked Sabo's blonde locks. "Sleep, it's in the middle of the night." Sabo nodded, letting Ace's voice lull him to sleep.

Ace and Luffy were here and what happened before was a dream. But, they'd have to leave in a few more days. The warm sensation weighing on his chest where Ace had fallen asleep first on top of him would also disappear. The weight on him made it harder to breathe and he didn't complain. He looked over Ace's neck and saw Luffy dozed off beside him. Sabo laughed quietly and closed his eyes, waiting for sleep to take him.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:** Sorry for the long delay! I was stressed out with my procrastination on assignments and exams the past weeks. I only have one more exam tomorrow and I left myself about 2 hours to study for it haha. On another note, thank you for all your patience, it's appreciated.

* * *

"What's wrong, Ace?" Luffy glanced at his older brother then back down to the streaming water his feet were in. He bent down, following the movements of a shadow with his eyes. The shadow wriggled and avoided Luffy's rubber finger net. Ace sighed and turned to look at a man sitting on the rocks several meters away from them.

"Is it me or has Sabo been…"

"S-silking?" Luffy offered weakly. Ace hummed.

"Not sulking, more like…" he trailed off, frowning. A fish jumped out of Luffy's grasp and Ace swat it behind him, the fish flopping onto the ground. He continued to stare at Sabo.

"Luffy," Sabo called, "come out of the river." Luffy tilted his head. He looked to Ace and his brother blinked back at him, shrugging. Sabo walked over to the two and kneeled down, reaching his hands towards Luffy. He lifted the boy out of the water and set him on a rock. He gave a smile and slipped his cravat from his neck, wiping Luffy's dripping face.

"Be more careful, you're a devil fruit user remember?" Sabo scowled at Ace, seeing how he wasn't in the streaming waters. It was possible Ace didn't step into the water unconsciously and that was why he didn't drag Luffy to ground—he didn't see anything wrong with the younger being in the waters. It was probably because Ace was in a daze all morning.

"Oh!" Luffy hit a fist in his palm. "That's why I was feeling sick." He grinned and clung onto Sabo's neck. "Sabo's a good person!" Sabo blinked. He leaned to side enough that Luffy's damp hair tickled his cheek.

"Yes, yes, let's get you out of those wet clothes. You could catch a cold again if you stay in them," he said. Sabo pulled Luffy's red tank over his head and wrung it. The water splashed down onto the rocky river bed and before he could stand up, Luffy had run off chasing a butterfly. "Wait, where are you going Luffy?" He was about to run after the boy but caught a glimpse of red beads. Sabo looked at Ace and pointed to the bushes Luffy had dived into. "Is that okay?"

"Yeah, he'll be fine," Ace said. Sabo opened his mouth but quickly closed it, turning away.

"I'll go get him," he mumbled and took off. He didn't get very far until a pair of wet shorts smacked into his face. Sabo stilled, hearing Luffy giggling.

"Wait for me, foxy!" He could hear the boy shout. Droplets of water slid down his face and soaked into his shirt. Sabo peeled off Luffy's shirt from his face.

"Luffy…" he whined. He did tell the boy to take off his shirt but not his shorts.

A laugh from behind made him glance back. Ace was laughing and pointing at him. When the man realized Sabo was looking at him, he cleared his throat and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Like I said, Luffy will be fine."

Sabo smiled.

"W-what?" Ace stuttered at the forced smile Sabo was wearing. Sabo stepped closer, shifting Luffy's clothes into one hand.

"Hold onto," he started, lifting a hand, "Luffy's clothes," and flung the water-soaked clothes at Ace's face, "until I get back."

"What the hell, Sabo!" Ace yelled. Now he was wet too. He picked up Luffy's shirt and shorts, placing them on top of a rock to sundry. He was going to spit more complaints at the man when Sabo grinned. Ace relaxed, his shoulders dropping.

"What are you guys going to do without me," Sabo sang and dashed into the bundle of forest trees. "Luffy! Come back here!"

A cool breeze swayed Ace's hair and grazed his cheeks. What was that?

"Wait, what about catching dinner?" he called out to no one in particular. He stared down at the single flopping fish on the ground.

* * *

Ace growled, shaking his leg, his foot tapping against the ground.

"What are you doing, Ace?" Luffy asked, pedalling around in circles on his bike. Ace clenched his teeth.

"What's with Sabo today? He's not talking as much as he usually does."

"Really?" came the reply. The pedals squeaked every time Luffy pedalled, interrupting his brother's thoughts.

"We should lubricate the gears or something, the squeaking is annoying me to no end…" Ace grumbled. Luffy gasped, stopping the bike.

"No! You can't take away my bike!" he shouted. Ace waved an arm.

"Luffy, you got it wrong, I meant—"

The door flung wide open, hitting Ace in the face.

"What's going on?" Sabo said. He found Luffy sitting on his bike pouting. Sabo strode over to him, accessing if he had been hurt. "Why were you shouting all of a sudden? Are you hurt?"

Luffy stuck out his bottom lip and pointed to the door. "Ace was trying to get rid of my bike!"

"Huh, Ace?" Sabo looked at the man holding his face with both hands. "What are you doing there?"

"Ugh, because you slammed the door in my face!" Sabo sighed in relief. He pat Luffy's shoulder.

"Luffy you probably misunderstood. Ace wouldn't tell you to get rid of something you like," he said softly. Luffy's lips thinned, eyes round.

"Ace didn't say that?" he asked. Sabo smiled, wiping the tears that welled in Luffy's eyes out.

Oh there, that smile again.

"Of course he didn't, right Ace?" Sabo turned to Ace, waiting for a response. Ace nodded absently.

"I meant we should oil the chain so it'd squeak less…" he explained.

"See?" Luffy broke into a smile and nodded.

"Yeah!"

With the small misunderstanding settled, Sabo went to bathe with Luffy as usual. Ace was left waiting for his turn to use the bathroom, staring at a trail of ants on the ground. He was worried. Sabo had been acting strange since early morning. It was Sabo's nightmare that was causing this odd behaviour without a doubt. What was it about though, he wondered. Or was Sabo that upset about what happened this morning?

"Gaahh!" Ace messed up his hair with his fingers tangling in the strands angrily. He dropped his hands and gazed up at the sky. "I don't get it…"

* * *

When the sun rose, shining into their tiny cut out window in the attic, Sabo woke up to a heavy weight on his body.

_I'm feeling d__éj__à __vu__ here…_

He shivered at his cold, damp clothing sticking to him. He craned his neck to the side and saw a red beaded necklace. So it was Ace—again. Sabo snorted. Did the man always fall asleep on top of someone? He shifted slightly, trying to get the weight off his chest so he could breathe easier. Sabo started to feel awkward then, the morning haze fading. The reality that Ace's upper half was bare and pressing against him. It wasn't surprising the man was shirtless, what was surprising to him was the heat the other gave off. The contrasting sensation of his damp clothing and Ace's body heat was weird.

Sabo debated on pushing Ace off or staying still. He went to shake the man lightly, waking him up when the memories of only a couple hours ago refreshed in his mind. He stiffened. Sabo furrowed his brows, hugging Ace by the upper back and nuzzling his brother's shoulder. He shrank in and found comfort in the other's weight.

"Ace…" he whispered.

_Don't go, don't leave, stay here, let me sail with you. _He couldn't say those words. He didn't want to say anything that would bind his brothers to him—that would be selfish. If it was his dream to become a pirate, he would fulfill it without troubling Ace and Luffy.

Sabo shook, he dreaded whether his family would find him if he stayed too long. If they did find him, the first thing they'd do would be to…get rid of bad influences—just like before and how they always had. Should he leave while he had the chance? Say a quick goodbye, find a boat and leave? He let out a long and slow breath.

A groan startled him. Sabo hadn't noticed he tightened his hold on Ace until he loosened his arms. One look at the man's face and a smile creeped up on Sabo's face.

"And this is the face of the notorious Fire Fist Ace?" he chuckled.

"Hmn…" Was Ace waking up? Sabo unwrapped his arms from the man and lay there motionless as he had been while asleep.

"…Sabo." He froze, his stomach sinking and churning. What was Ace dreaming about? Ace turned his head, a warm mouth touching Sabo's jawline. A lick was all it took to make Sabo stop breathing.

"Um…Ace?" Ace was doing something that was going to embarrass the both of them when he woke up, but he didn't want to wake the man up when he'd helped him calm down from his nightmare.

"…Hungry…food…" Those were the last words Sabo heard before he screamed, alerting everyone in the household.

* * *

Surely Sabo wasn't the type to hold a grudge for that…Ace rubbed his neck. Okay, maybe mistaking him for meat and biting his shoulder hard would get anyone to throw a fit. Maybe Sabo didn't want to talk to him for the day because of that. Ace frowned. What was the problem, he did apologize—several times—so why didn't that solve anything?

Thumping footsteps inside the house signalled that his brothers were done bathing. The sun was already set. Ace went inside the warm house. He saw Luffy and Sabo.

"Hey, you guys took longer than usual or is it just me?" he asked. Sabo looked at him in the eye, mouth a little open. He seemed different, did a bath refresh him or something? Ace glanced at a smiling Luffy and back at Sabo. "What am I missing?"

Luffy laughed, hand on his stomach and chest. "Not telling you!" He ran off to bug Dadan and the woman threw cleaning supplies at him, ordering him to clean the mess he made at dinner tonight.

"You okay? You don't look as upset as in the morning," Ace said. Sabo nodded stiffly.

"I'm okay now." He paused. "Oh, I'm not upset about this morning," he said, laughing. Ace's face scrunched in confusion. It took him a moment to come to a conclusion.

"So…" Ace curled his toes, "the nightmare…It's all okay now?" The short silence made him uncomfortable and he thought he'd said the wrong thing already. He was relieved when Sabo answered him.

"Yeah, it…doesn't bother me, I'm okay." There was another period of silence and the air was filled with awkward tension. Sabo fidgeted, playing with the white towel around his neck and Ace rubbed his neck. Luffy was being loud in the background, whining and probably knocking buckets of dirty water over, which elicited an outburst of profanities from Dadan.

"Uh," they both started. They laughed nervously.

"You first," Ace said.

"I wanted to ask you…" Sabo stared at his own wiggling toes. He shut his eyes tight and murmured, "…with you."

Ace squinted. What did he say? He was about to ask Sabo to repeat when Sabo whipped his head and stared at him with fiery eyes.

"Take me with you to Whitebeard's ship!"


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N**: Yes, another chapter so soon! Thank you for all your kind comments, I'm glad everyone is enjoying this story. I feel like working on something darker after the ASL fluff this story has a lot of. I'll be working on a HashiMada slash if any of you are into Naruto before I work on the chapter 15. It's 2am when I finished this, time to sleep haha.

* * *

Sabo stared into Ace's eyes and bit his lips. He blinked.

"Ah, right, I have to tell you about myself right? You can't let a stranger like me on Whitebeard's ship…I could be an undercover Marine for all you know," Sabo rambled on, sweeping his blonde hair away from his face.

Snapping out of his stupor, Ace said, "Sabo, wait."

"Where do I start…" Sabo began to fidget again, rapidly blinking. He played with the hem of his shirt, twisting the fabric around his fingers.

"Sabo."

"My father's name is Outlook III…" Sabo chewed on his bottom lip. Ace's jaw dropped.

"That's a stupid name," he commented. The other man gave a nervous chuckle and shrugged.

"Be glad I wasn't named Outlook IV." Ace bobbed his head, thinking.

"It'd be funny though."

"I'm from…." Sabo's mouth hung open mid-sentence. He scowled, tearing his gaze from Ace to the floor. Despite talking about his background in the heat of the moment, he was still weary of saying where he was from. He must've looked completely lost because he felt hands shaking his shoulder.

"Sabo, later. You can tell me later, okay?" Ace said.

"O-okay…" He breathed in and smiled at Ace's gentle expression. "Um, will you, can I…Whitebeard's ship…with you." Sabo moaned, his thoughts and his mouth weren't in sync.

"Yeah, of course! I can't believe you even took that long to ask." Ace flashed a bright grin at him and it startled him. His hand came up to his chest, clutching at his shirt. Ace gripped his wrist and tugged, leading Sabo out the door.

"Where are you guys going?" Luffy looked up from his dustpan. Ace didn't turn back and kept taking large strides, Sabo in tow.

"Luffy! Makino's bar, now, right now," he said and Luffy dropped his dustpan. The boy was instantly by their side, skipping merrily. Ace glanced down at Luffy.

"Hehe…What's going on?" Sabo rolled his eyes.

"We're going to celebrate," Ace said, smirking. "Sabo's gonna sail with us, Luffy!"

"Yay!" Luffy cheered, throwing his arms in the air.

Sabo almost tripped several times as they descended the mountain; Ace was too excited he didn't look where he was going. He did have a few tree branches snap in his face but luckily, Sabo was yanked away before he crashed into an old tree trunk. He rubbed his cheek with his free hand. Did Ace let the branches hit him on purpose thinking it wouldn't hurt as much as a fat tree trunk? They both hurt!

Sabo hadn't noticed they were already inside Makino's bar until he was seated onto a stool at the counter.

"Makino, Makino, we're going to get drunk tonight!" Ace yelled, waving the woman over. She came and stopped in front of the trio. Makino looked at their faces and propped an elbow on the counter, amused.

"What's the occasion?" she asked.

"Sabo's coming along." Makino immediately understood what Ace was talking about and took a deep breath.

"That's great!" she shouted in glee.

"Right?!" Before Sabo knew it, two mugs of beers were placed in front of him and he looked at Ace wondering if one was for him. To his confusion, Ace also had two mugs in front of him.

"Drinking until you get drunk right?" Makino said and pointed at the glasses. "That's a warm up."

Sabo was speechless. An arm grabbed his shoulder and he was pulled. "Ace?"

"We're celebrating…for you," the man said. "Do you get it?"

"What?" Ace shook his head from side to side and stared into Sabo's eyes.

"You," Ace poked Sabo's chest, "me," he jerked a thumb at himself, "and Luffy are gonna be sailing together." The man's gaze didn't leave him, a smirk on his features. Sabo searched Ace's eyes and the longer he looked, the more he felt the bubbling sensation in his stomach grow stronger. It bubbled its way up to his cheek and he couldn't hold back the grin that split his face.

"I'm.." Sabo started slowly and Ace nodded, encouraging him to continue. "going to go with you guys…" His teeth clenched and his toes curled in his boots. He leapt off his seat and threw his arms at Ace, sending them both onto the ground.

Ace laughed without restraint as if he wasn't aware of their surroundings. He held Sabo into a tight embrace as the other trembled.

"I'm..going to sail with you guys…" Warm wetness dripped onto Ace's shoulder. "I'm going to be a pirate with you guys…" Sabo whispered.

"Yeah."

"We're leaving here, Goa Kingdom, for the vast ocean!" he cried. Sabo yelped as his blonde locks fell in front of face. He craned his neck backwards to look at Ace. The man was grinning at him, messing his hair up. He took a second to process the action and smiled.

"If I'm going to be a pirate, I have to at least get used to this…is what you told me before…" Sabo tangled his hands into Ace's dark strands and returned the favour. "Right?!"

"Hah! Sabo, why you!" Ace rubbed Sabo's hair more roughly, the wavy hair sticking in random directions similar to how static would make it wild.

"Yes, the two of you, separate now," Makino said and lightly tapped their arms, urging the two men to stand up. Ace and Sabo finally got to their feet, faces red with laughter. Makino didn't have it in her to scold them and went back to serving drinks to customers with a huff.

They sat in their stools and it didn't take long for the two to get drunk. Every drink they ordered contained more and more alcohol than the previous. Though they were immersed in their own conversation, they never took their eyes off Luffy, always knowing exactly where the boy was.

Makino warned them that she was going to close soon and she didn't want to go through the hassle of shoving their drunk butts out of the shop. She frowned in worry seeing the trio still drinking.

"La-last round, we pruu…" Ace slurred, his head swaying a bit.

"Promi-mise!" Sabo stuttered and giggled. Makino waved an okay, sweeping the floor and laughed nervously to herself.

As Ace and Sabo stepped outside along with Luffy asleep on Ace's shoulder on his tummy, they shivered at the cool night winds. They were uneasy on their feet on their way home, often latching onto the each other for support when they lost balance.

"You knw…it's good to know," Ace began and frowned. "What…?" Sabo laughed.

"Do…doon't l-look at mee?." He shrugged and staggered forward, collapsing onto the ground. Ace squinted down at Sabo.

"Eyy, don't just, just." He caught a glimpse of the object in the corner and with great effort, reached for it. Ace took it in his hands.

_Puru puru puru…._

Sabo lifted his head off the ground. "What you…doing?" he asked and let his head hit the ground again. Ace crawled back to Sabo.

_Clank_

"You…" Sabo cleared his throat. "lok..like a cat…piller.."

"Nerd," Ace replied.

"Hello?"

"Ace, snail." Sabo motioned at the Den Den Mushi.

"Yes, hello? Is this Sabo?" Ace said. Sabo snickered, covering his mouth with a hand.

"No, it's Izou. Who's Sabo?" the voice answered.

"That w-would be you."

A tired sigh. "Did you need something, Ace?" Ace's eyes caught Sabo's. They stared at each other lying on their sides, their movements stilled.

"Pretty….blue…" Ace mumbled and Sabo chuckled, pushing him back slightly.

"…Hello? Ace?"

"Pretty black…" Sabo said. On the end of the line, Izou's brow raised.

"Who is that?"

"Sabboo."

"Id-iot, it-it's Sabo, say, hic, right." A giggle followed and Izou pulled the transponder away from him, staring at the snail perplexed. Ace shifted and something thud on the ground. Ace and Sabo's eyes widened and they instantly sat upright.

"Shit, Luffy," Ace cursed. "I dropped him." He gaped at Sabo and the man pat his face.

"Don't worry, he's alive." Sabo laughed breathlessly.

"Right."

"Luffy just rolled onto the ground."

Izou got up from his bed and made his way to the corridor. He knocked on Marco's door and with a muffled come in, he stepped into the room.

"What do you need so late at night?" Marco asked.

"It's Ace," Izou stated.

"Something happen?" Izou settled himself on the First Commander's mattress, Marco gliding his chair over. Izou shoved the Den Den Mushi at the man.

"Why don't you tell me?" he said. Marco heard giggling and rustling sounds.

"Ace?"

"Ey, yo hey Marco, my man. Stop it Sabo, you're gonna make me bald!" Ace shouted. Marco glanced at Izou who just looked back tired. They sat, listening in on their comrade.

"Sabo, get back here!" Ace wrestled with flinging limbs, getting whacked in the face a few times before successfully catching Sabo. Sabo whined, elbowing Ace in the guts. "Ugh.." Ace grabbed Sabo's cheeks and pulled them.

"Aeeecshee…what har…you doo…"

"Shut up, you started it."

Marco opened his mouth, pausing. "Ace, are you high? Who's that with you?" he asked carefully.

Heavy breathing, laughter, dull thuds and rustling of most likely clothes, could be heard through the snail transponder.

Izou raised his arms, eyes wide. "High? Yes, tell me, what in the world is he smoking?!" he screamed. Marco winced at the volume. Wow, Izou was sure losing it. Must be the lack of his beauty sleep.

"It's too damn hot…" Sabo groaned, slipping off his white cravat from his neck. Ace rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"Here, I'll help…"

"Thanks," Sabo mumbled. One by one, he removed his clothing and fanned himself. Well, that's what he got from drinking so much and then wrestling with Ace.

Izou held his head, eyes bulging out of their sockets. "What is that…sound, that rustling intimate sounding sound that sounds like stripping?…" Marco couldn't respond. There was some quieter chatting going on they couldn't make out.

"….burning so hot? Because I'm fire, that's what!" Sabo burst into laughter, clutching his stomach.

"I can see that, you're really on fi…Fire!" Sabo yelled. "Ace put that out before you burn down the ho—"

_Clank_

Izou and Marco sat in silence, needing a couple of minutes to reflect on what they heard.

* * *

Daybreak had the three brothers scrambling their to their feet, wracking their hazy minds to remember what they had to do for the day. When Sabo woke up, he rushed to the bathroom, not bothering to close the door behind him. Ace followed him and leaned by the doorframe, yawning.

"Um…so today," he scratched his head, "I'll go get an extra boat from Gray Terminal and you can get the food from Makino's." Ace squeezed his eyes shut then opened them, blinking away the sweetness of sleep.

"Urgh…" Sabo held onto the toilet seat and heaved. "Don't….talk about food right now," he groaned. Ace chuckled.

"Weak," he said and shook his head. Sabo shot him a glare, the pale complexion ruining how threatening it was supposed to look.

"Yeah? Well your bed head looks ridiculous like a chicken's sheep…" he paused, "a…sheep hair, fur…wool, like sheep wool." Ace gave him a strange look. Clearly, his poor brother was still affected by the alcohol from last night. He wasn't even talking right and Sabo was smart. Sabo's brows furrowed and he ducked his head back into the toilet bowl.

Ace rolled his eyes. "Drink lots of water and get better soon," he said and shut the door behind him. "We'll talk later, Mr. Hung-over Sabo."

"Shut—ehurk.."

Ace shouted loud enough so Dadan could hear as he went out the door, "I'm going to catch breakfast right now! Sabo's down in the bathroom!"

"You're going to catch our portion too right Ace?" Dadan called. Beside her Dogra shrugged.

"If Sabo's not cooking, I doubt it," he said.

"I will, I'm not that cold-hearted," Ace said, turning around.

Liar, the gang of bandits thought as they recalled memories of Ace when he was a child. The kid was harsh, cold, and violent. One time he came home pissed and decided to kick a tree down which coincidentally or not, fell onto their house. Not only did the brat not apologize, he had the audacity to say it was about time their beat up shack bit the dust.

They looked at the man's retreating back. Ace grinned at them and walked away, whistling a tune. Dogra blinked, rubbing his eyes and slapping his cheeks with his hands to check if he was dreaming. He glanced at Dadan, seeing a similar expression on her face.

"Ace seems like he's in a good mood…" Dadan nodded wordlessly.

* * *

Ace pointed at himself and asked, "Who am I?" Sabo let out an exasperated sigh.

"Ace…"

"Okay, walk in a straight line." Sabo looked at him with a frown. He crossed his arms across his chest and when Ace didn't say anything more, he gave up. He walked forward six steps and turned around.

"I did it," he said. Ace stared at him.

"I think he was a little off," Luffy chipped in, standing next to Ace with his index finger and and thumb on his chin. Ace cocked his head to the side.

"Right? I thought so too," he said. Before Sabo could complain, Luffy stuck up three fingers.

"How many fingers?" the boy asked. Sabo inhaled, holding his breath. He wouldn't lash out at the boy, he wouldn't, after all, it was Ace who started it.

He exhaled slowly and answered, "Three." Luffy looked satisfied and nodded.

"Alright, he's okay." He winked at Ace and gave a thumbs up. Ace returned the gesture and showed his double thumbs up to Sabo.

"Cut it out guys. As you can see, I'm fine now." Sabo huffed. Ace pat his shoulder and grinned.

"I know," he said. "Yes, back to our discussion from this morning…" He quickly dropped his hand to his side seeing the other's annoyed look. "Me and Luffy will go to Gray Terminal and get an extra boat while you go get our food stock from Makino."

"I think I heard you say something like that while I was busy hurling, yeah. Why do we need an _extra_ boat?"

Luffy raised his hand. "Ace's Striker can only fit himself!"

"Yeah, my raft is powered by my flames and it's a one person seater. We'd make it faster to Lougetown using my Striker—that's where the extra boat will come in." Sabo raised an eyebrow.

"You just said it was a one person raft though," Sabo stated, his mind trying to work out what Ace meant. His eyes widened when he saw the man's smirk. He gaped. "No."

"It'll work out, trust me," Ace said. Sabo's lips stretched into a thin line.

"Have you ever tried this?" he asked.

"No," was the blatant reply.

"Are you seriously planning to go through with this?" Ace's smirked was still plastered over his face and that was his answer. Sabo thought for a couple moments, aware his brothers' gaze were on him. He looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "Okay, but, you'll need to find a rope too."

Realization crossed Ace's face. "Right, totally forgot."

"Dummy Ace. You have to be an idiot to forget a rope. How else would you pull our boat?" Luffy frowned. Ace bonked his head, a vein popping on the older's forehead.

"You forgot too, didn't you? Don't call me a dummy, you moron," he said. Luffy rubbed the swelling bump on his head and stuck his tongue at Ace.

"Beeh, I didn't, dumbooo," he retorted.

"Yes, yes, let's go get ready or we'll end up sailing at night," Sabo said and laughed at the two. They got along well and it lifted his spirits that he really was going to sail on the ocean with them. He smiled to himself, they'd be pirates together. Luffy and Ace were making faces at each other as they left for Gray Terminal. What was that, a face-making competition?

Sabo shook his head, gazing at their figures. His smile dropped when he remembered what exactly Ace's plan was.

"Unbelievable," he scoffed under his breath. He couldn't believe himself for agreeing with the man's plan. Ace was going to sail on his Striker, a rope in his hand and the other end in Sabo's. He tried visualizing how it would work; a single rope pulling the boat Luffy and him were going to be on. What had he gotten himself into?

Sabo closed his eyes, imagining a jumpy Luffy and a grinning Ace waving at him by the dock, their boats floating on the blue waters. He hid his face with his sleeve and leaned against the doorway. He couldn't stop an awkward smile cracking his frown.

_Stupid…idiots. One ridiculous, funny moron and one cute, small idiot who's glued to him._

"Together we'll be the three idiots," Sabo murmured. He laughed aloud at his own proclamation, confusing the bandits and Dadan.

* * *

Sabo made his way to Makino's, remembering the route by heart. He had come down several times with Ace that his legs would bring him here unconsciously. He beamed. It was real, this was reality. Today he would set out with his brothers and see the world for himself. Sabo would fulfill his dream!

He hummed as he stepped over river streams, pushed past tall patches of grass, and hopped over gigantic tree roots. Sabo stopped abruptly. He spun on his heel and glared.

"Who's there?"

A figure came out from behind a tree trunk, looking down at Sabo from above. "How have you been, Sabo?"

"Why…where's..how?"

"Miss me?" A wide sneer spread across the figure's face.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N**: Sorry guys for the delay of this chapter. I guess I've been too preoccupied with writing/thinking of Naruto fics to write the chapter. I'm still continuing this, albeit at a slower pace. Surprisingly, this story comes to me easier than other stories. Thanks for bearing with me and enjoy the short chapter!

* * *

Sabo stilled, eyes taking in the form of the person in front of him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked before his brain could register the signals of panic.

The figure skid down the muddy hill and stood on even ground with Sabo, only a few meters away.

"Dear Sabo, is that how you should greet your cute little brother?" He chuckled, an expression of contempt breaking onto his face. "Did you think I wouldn't find you?"

"Stelly…" Sabo murmured, letting out a quiet, shaky breath. His gaze hardened at his younger stepbrother's words and he broke into a smile. "No, I'm not surprised. You took your time trying to find me, it was about time," he said.

The other's foot dug and ground into the soil, holding in his irritation. But the longer Stelly looked at Sabo, the more his emotions got the better of him. His eye twitched and threw a finger at Sabo.

"You!" he shouted. "If it weren't for you, my life would've gone smoothly. It's always you, in the end, it has to be you. I'm smart, handsome, I don't lose to you. So why is it you…!"

Sabo stared, used to Stelly's sudden outbursts of how everything was unfair. He was aware that his parents favoured him, their real son, to Stelly and no matter how much Stelly sucked up to them, it wouldn't work.

By no means was his…younger brother stupid. Sabo was just naturally better in his studies than Stelly and to be truthful, he felt a little bad for him. The only reason his parents took Stelly in after the boy's parents died, was to be Sabo's replacement. They thought he had died when he ran away from home ten years ago.

"Are you done?" Sabo asked, indifferently and raised his head to face Stelly. He wasn't paying attention to all his brother's ramblings. "If you are, I'll be going now." He turned and taking a detour to Makino's shop.

"Actually, no, I'm not. I need you to come with me," Stelly said, crossing his arms across his chest.

"I'm not going."

"Oh, but you have to. That is, if you don't want your two little friends hurt," he taunted, pride swelling in him when Sabo halted in his steps. He watched his brother turn around, anger in his expression which was then replaced by a smirk.

"If you think you can hurt them, try it," Sabo started, tilting his head to the side, "But you should have done your research, Stelly."

Stelly's eyes narrowed at Sabo. Who was he to challenge him? "I'm serious this time," he said.

"Do you even know who you're going up against?" his brother asked and he shrugged.

"I don't think it matters who they are." Stelly waved a hand in the air as to dismiss the thought. "There's no one who is more powerful than the Celestial Dragons," he stated.

At that, Sabo went rigid. His smirk turned downwards, mouth parting a bit. Was Stelly suggesting he could use the Celestial Dragons? That they were on his side? That was impossible.

"I'm not lying."

"Why are you trying to bring them up now? After so many years…" Sabo inched back slowly.

"I need you to come home," was Stelly's answer.

Sabo gave him a look. "Don't you think it's better if I don't? You can have the family's wealth, you can take over Father's position in the business."

His younger brother inched closer. "I plan on that, yes."

"Then leave me be."

Stelly seemed to contemplate this, tapping a finger on his chin before a sick grin spread on his face.

"No."

Sabo took off, dashing through the forests, increasing his speed as he heard Stelly follow behind him. Once he got away from him, he'd have to knock his stepbrother out cold and leave the island as soon as possible. It would be easy since he was much stronger than Stelly—the orange bowl cut man was never the type to keep fit.

"Sabo, you wont get away!" Stelly shouted and Sabo didn't even need to turn around to see if he was catching up.

There was no way his brother could ever catch him. But as he ran, he began to wonder why Stelly would chase him. Why would his brother want him to come home? His father's voice calling out to him in town that one time echoed in his mind. Was it because Father ordered him to? It unnerved Sabo.

"I know who your special friend is, Sabo. He's Portgas D. Ace. Isn't that right?" Stelly called, wheezing as he came to a stop. He rested his hands on his knees, panting for air and dabbed his forehead with a silk handkerchief.

"Did you really think I came alone? Hah, you're naive Sabo…" he muttered.

He knew. Stelly knew who Ace was. He grit his teeth, cold sweat forming on his limbs and goosebumps prickling his arms. Sabo clenched his hands into a fist, the leather glove making a tightening sound.

What would he do if Stelly planned to go through with his threat? What would he do if Ace was chased to the ends of the earth by Admirals and with Vice Admirals? Of course Ace could handle regular Marines but Admirals were on a totally different league. If he went with Ace, he'd only be in danger.

With that thought, Sabo slowed down, slumping against a large tree trunk that hid his entire body.

_Even if I leave the island Ace and Luffy will be attacked…No, worse, they'll be chased until they're killed. _

The Celestial Dragons had that much power. They controlled the Marines, had them wrapped around their pinkies. Whatever they wanted, they'd get. He exhaled, calming himself, but it didn't work.

A twig snapped and Sabo's head whipped behind him. His arm swung at the man on instinct. The man was taken by surprise yet managed to avoid the blow by leaning the upper half of his body backwards. He caught Sabo's wrist and used his other hand to press a cloth to the noble's nose.

In panic, Sabo accidentally inhaled through the cloth—a sweet smell filling his nostrils. His head was starting to feel numb. He bit down on his lip and yanked free from who he knew was one of Stelly's bodyguard. Sabo punched the man hard in the face and ran.

He didn't turn around when he heard the bodyguard swear and kept moving forward. He was losing sensation in his legs and willed them to carry him even a step further, but they soon tangled together, bringing Sabo to the ground. He panted, breaths coming in short intervals. If only he could find a place to hide while the chloroform wore out…

However, there was no such luck.

Stelly's bodyguard stood above, staring down at him. Sabo's eyes fluttered open and close as the man bent down to place the same cloth over his face again.

His last conscious thought, or emotion, was fear. He was going home.

_Ace._

* * *

"I can't wait!" Luffy yipped, throwing his arms in the air. Ace looked at Luffy with a smile and scratched his cheek.

"Same here."

"We're gonna be the best pirates ever," Luffy said, snickering into his hand.

"I know," Ace agreed. He smirked, imagining how his crew mates would react to Sabo, and of course hyperactive Luffy too. His brothers were strong and they'd only grow stronger from here on out. He wasn't boasting, he was serious. Ace reached down and ruffled Luffy's hair.

The boy paused to look at him. He basked in the gentle touch and grinned before rushing off into the clearing.

"Let's hurry and find a boat!"

Ace blinked, watching Luffy jump into a heap of metal scraps and nodded. "Yeah, let's find the best boat there is around here."

Luffy laughed "I bet I can find a better one than you can!"

"If you think you can, show me," Ace scoffed and dove into another pile of junk. He was interrupted by his Den Den Mushi.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Ace…"

Ace pushed aside wooden planks, finding a small rowing boat.

"What's up Marco?" he said casually and groaned once seeing how small the boat was. It was no good, it needed to be bigger or at least bigger and cooler than what Luffy could find.

"…You're not drunk are you?" Marco asked and Ace's brows furrowed. He turned to the receiver.

"No, I'm not. Why do you ask?"

"That's good. No reason. I'm just here to check up on you. How long will it take you to get to Loguetown?"

He hummed, thinking. "I don't know. A couple days. Man, don't worry I'm not gonna be late, I swear," Ace said, raising his hands in surrender.

"Yeah, last time you said that…Actually any time you say that, you're late." On the other end, he heard Marco sigh. "Please be at the meeting spot on time. I really don't want to deal with that guy," Marco said.

"Oh, right. Smoker's real persistent, I remember."

"Try not to get caught by him. Especially," Marco paused, pointing his index finger to the ceiling as if that would make the point more clear, "with your little brother. From what you've said, he's going to get lost, yell for you guys and attract attention."

Ace muffled his laughter with a hand. Wouldn't want to have Marco lecture him any longer right?

"I'll…be careful," he managed to say.

Marco hung up first. He propped his elbows on his desk and leaned his forehead into his connected hands. He sighed, tired eyes staring at his desk.

_I'm going to have a headache, I know it. _


End file.
